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Ukrainian Pilot Nabbed After Crashing in Russia, FSB Claims

A Russian National Guard representative claimed that the alleged pilot was armed with an assault rifle.

The Russian Federal Security Service claims to have detained a Ukrainian pilot after his light aircraft allegedly crashed near the town of Butovsk in Russia’s southwestern Bryansk region on Wednesday.

“On April 5, 2023, members of Russia’s FSB Border Service department for the Bryansk Region recorded a violation of the state border from Ukraine into the Russian Federation by a Ukrainian light-engine aircraft,” the FSB said in a statement reported by Russian state news agency TASS. “For unknown reasons, the plane crashed near Butovsk in the Bryansk Region. The pilot (a Ukrainian national), who was trying to flee into Ukrainian territory was apprehended by a border patrol.”

The Daily Beast was not able to independently verify the report from FSB. Ukraine’s Air Force did not immediately return request for comment.

According to RIA Novosti, the pilot was allegedly trying to run back to Ukrainian territory before he was arrested. Videos and photos published by the Russian Baza and Mash Telegram channels appear to show the alleged pilot restrained while being interrogated by authorities.

“The Ukrainian pilot was detained by the National Guard, by joint efforts of all security agencies represented in the region,” a representative from Russian National Guard told TASS. “He was armed. He had an assault rifle, magazines, a bulletproof vest. Federal Security Service employees will now decide how to work with him now.”

The crash may be the latest evidence of Ukraine’s increasing willingness to attack within Russia’s borders over one year into the conflict.

Russia has used the Bryansk region, which borders Ukraine and Belarus, to launch several attacks against Ukraine during the war. In March, Ukraine’s special forces acknowledged using a drone strike to attack an unmanned tower in Bryansk. Just earlier this month, a local official in Bryansk claimed a Ukrainian drone hit a local military enlistment office and dropped an explosive near a Ministry of Internal Affairs building.

Ukrainian authorities have suggested that they will attack regions in Russia used as a launching ground for offensives targeting Ukraine.

Attacks that hit Russia’s Engels air base and Dyagilevo base in the Ryazan region this past winter have raised questions about whether Ukraine is growing more wiling to bring the fight to Russia.

Ukraine’s military intelligence chief, Kyrylo Budanov, warned Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier this year that he can expect more strikes inside Russia.

There will be strikes “deeper and deeper” inside Russia, Budanov said in January, although he did not clarify what he meant.

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Some suspected Ukrainian drones have flown within 60 miles of Moscow, which has raised alarm bells inside Russia about securing the borders of the country. Other drones have recently been spotted in Russia’s Belgorod region. Some Russian analysts have suggested Ukraine might be preparing for a broader attack.

Other concerns have been raised about Russia’s ability to defend itself in recent weeks in Belarus, where Moscow has been conducting joint trainings with Belarus’ military. Just last month, opposition forces within Belarus attacked a Russian spy plane in an attempt to hamper Russia’s staging efforts. An opposition politician told The Daily Beast at the time that more attacks would come.

“We hope that this is not the last attack, that there are many other plans of our partisans,” said Franak Viacorka, the chief political adviser to Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya. “We will be looking forward.”

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Shannon VavraNational Security Reporter

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