1 Instute for the Study of War and AEI’s Crical Threats Project 2023
Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, May 22, 2023
Karolina Hird, Grace Mappes, Nicole Wolkov, Layne Philipson,
and Frederick W. Kagan
May 22, 2023, 8:30pm 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 4pm ET on May 22. ISW will cover
subsequent reports in the May 23 Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment.
Elements of the all-Russian pro-Ukrainian Russian Volunteer Corps (RDK) and
Freedom of Russia Legion (LSR) conducted a raid into Belgorod Oblast on May
22. Russian sources began reporting on the morning of May 22 that a detachment of the RDK and
LSR consisting of two tanks, an armored personnel carrier, and nine other armored vehicles crossed
the international border and captured Kozinka, a settlement in the Grayvoron region of Belgorod
Oblast within 600 meters of the border with Sumy Oblast.[1] Several Russian sources claimed that the
grouping then captured the settlements of Glotovo and Gora Podol (3km and 5km from the border,
respectively), although some milbloggers disputed claims that the attack completely captured Glotovo
or Gora Podol, instead reporting that RDK forces only got to the Glotovo House of Culture.[2] ISW
has not yet observed geolocated confirmation that the RDK or LSR reached Glotovo or Gora Podol.
Geolocated footage posted on May 22 does confirm that the RDK struck a border post near Kozinka
before crossing the border with at least one tank.[3] The RDK also posted footage reportedly showing
the body of a Russian border guard in a border station, likely from the border crossing near
Kozinka.[4] Russian milbloggers later claimed that Russian troops retook control of all three
settlements.[5] Some Russian sources additionally reported that Russian forces repelled pro-
Ukrainian sabotage groups near Dronovka, about 22km northwest of Kozinka.[6] The RDK
additionally posted footage reportedly outside two settlements near the border area in Bryansk
Oblast, but the nature of this incursion is unclear and ISW has not observed additional evidence or
discourse surrounding actions in Bryansk Oblast on May 22.[7]
