A Ukrainian special forces unit said it had carried out a strike on Russian military equipment inside Russia’s Belgorod Oblast, targeting tanks and heavy vehicles prepared for future combat operations.
According to a statement published on Facebook by Lasar’s Group of the National Guard of Ukraine (NGU) on 25 March, the operation took place in early March and involved coordinated drone reconnaissance and strike missions on Russian territory.
Drones spotted the targets; strike crews finished the job
The unit said Russian forces had concealed equipment in a forest belt, but Ukrainian aerial reconnaissance identified the targets using its own drones. The intelligence was then passed to strike drone crews, which carried out the attack on the site.
Lasar’s Group reported that six tanks and two pieces of heavy military vehicle equipment were hit during the operation, with some of the targets destroyed completely.
The unit added that the equipment had likely been concentrated in Belgorod Oblast for deployment toward Ukraine’s Kharkiv Oblast. It said the strike was intended to prevent those assets from being used in future operations against Ukrainian forces.
Belgorod has long served as Russia's staging ground for Kharkiv operations
Kharkiv Oblast, which borders Russia, has been a key front throughout the full-scale war. Russian forces used Belgorod Oblast as a staging ground during their initial advance in 2022, and the area has remained a critical logistics and troop concentration hub for operations near the border.
Parts of eastern Kharkiv Oblast remain under Russian occupation, and several frontline areas continue to be heavily contested, with ongoing fighting and artillery exchanges.
Although Ukraine pushed Russian troops away from much of the region later in 2022, cross-border attacks, shelling, and periodic offensives have continued. In recent months, Ukrainian officials have warned that Russia is again concentrating forces near the border, raising concerns about renewed attempts to advance into Kharkiv Oblast.
Cross-border drone strikes and reconnaissance missions have become a regular feature of the war, with Ukrainian units increasingly targeting staging areas, logistics hubs, and equipment concentrations inside Russian border regions to disrupt planned offensives.
