1 Instute for the Study of War and AEI’s Crical Threats Project 2023
Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, June 4, 2023
Riley Bailey, Grace Mappes, Nicole Wolkov, Kateryna Stepanenko,
George Barros, and Fredrick W. Kagan
June 4, 2023, 6pm ET
Click here to see ISW’s interactive map of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. This map is
updated daily alongside the static maps present in this report.
Click here to access ISW’s archive of interactive time-lapse maps of the Russian
invasion of Ukraine. These maps complement the static control-of-terrain map that
ISW produces daily by showing a dynamic frontline. ISW will update this time-lapse
map archive monthly.
Note: The data cutoff for this product was 1:30pm ET on June 4. ISW will cover
subsequent reports in the June 5 Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment.
Elements of the all-Russian pro-Ukrainian Russian Volunteer Corps (RDK) and
Freedom of Russia Legion (LSR) conducted another limited raid into Belgorod Oblast
on June 4 and are reportedly continuing to operate in a Russian border
settlement. Geolocated footage published on June 4 shows LSR and RDK personnel advancing
towards Novaya Tavolzhanka (3.5km from the Ukrainian border).[1] Belgorod Oblast Governor
Vyacheslav Gladkov confirmed that there was fighting within Novaya Tavolzhanka, although the
Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) claimed that units of the Western Military District and the
Russian Border Guard Service struck a Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance group near the
settlement, forcing them to withdraw.[2] Russian milbloggers claimed that a sabotage and
reconnaissance group of 20 personnel entered Novaya Tavolzhanka without armored
vehicles.[3] Wall Street Journal Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent Yarsoslav Trofimov reported
that the pro-Ukrainian Russian fighters remain in Novaya Tavolzhanka as of 1700 (Moscow Standard
Time).[4]
Belgorod Oblast Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov responded to a RDK and LSR demand to
negotiate for the exchange of captured Russian prisoners of war (POWs). The LSR and
RDK addressed a video to Gladkov purporting to show RDK and LSR fighters with two Russian POWs
whom they said they captured near Novaya Tavolzhanka. The RDK and LSR demanded that Gladkov
arrive at the temple in Novaya Tavolzhanka by 1700 (Moscow Standard Time) to negotiate for the
release of the POWs.[5] Gladkov stated that he was ready to meet with the RDK and LSR fighters at
the Shebekino checkpoint to negotiate the exchange of the POWs.[6] Gladkov later reportedly refused
to meet with the RDK and LSR fighters because he believed that the Russian POWs were already
dead.[7] The RDK and LSR released a subsequent video showing themselves with 12 Russian POWs,
criticizing Gladkov for lacking courage, and stating that they would send the POWs to Ukraine.[8]
The dissonant Russian responses to and reporting about the limited raid in Belgorod
Oblast continue to suggest that the Russian leadership has not yet decided how to react
to these limited cross-border raids. The contradictory reporting from official Russian sources
about the situation in Belgorod Oblast and Gladkov’s apparent personal decision to respond to the
RDK and LSR suggests that the MoD and Gladkov are not coordinating their responses to the raids.
