Anti-Kremlin rebels are back marauding inside Russia and triggering fears Putin's forces can't defend the homeland

• A small group of anti-Kremlin Russians with armored vehicles crossed into the Belgorod region of Russia.
• Images captured the damage they caused inside Russia, and triggered debate and skepticism of Putin's regime.

Heavy smoke rose over the town of Shebekino, one of the latest Russian border towns to fall prey to a band of heavily armed partisan fighters.

Their latest border raid began Thursday when a small group of fighters in armored vehicles crossed into the Belgorod region of Russia, a key staging ground for the ammunition and supplies needed to fuel the invasion of Ukraine nearby.

Scenes captured on social media suggest the militants, who go by the Freedom of Russia Legion, have hardly delivered on their pledge to "bring freedom, peace and calm" to Russian citizens. But their operation has succeeded in one critical aspect: Creating images of wreckage inside Russia's borders that are reigniting debates among hardliners deeply skeptical of Russian officialdom.

"Now everything has changed," wrote the Russian ultranationalist Igor Girkin. "The enemy has really grown stronger, created a highly combat-ready army."

According to Russia's TASS state-run news agency, Ukraine's military "repeatedly shelled" Shebekino, injuring more than 10 people and Russian troops had stopped them from entering the village. Russian President Vladimir Putin called the head of the urban area to offer support.

The melee adds to growing anxieties that Russia's troops are spent and not up to the task of stopping a Ukrainian counterpunch that's been strengthened by Western-made tanks, fighting vehicles, and long-range missiles.

"Other milbloggers argued that the raids in Belgorod Oblast are a Ukrainian effort to divert Russian forces away from important sectors of the front in Ukraine to border regions ahead of potential Ukrainian counteroffensive operations," noted the Institute for the Study of War think tank, which closely tracks the views of pro-war observers on Telegram.

To try to evict the rebels on their second day of the raid, Russia's military announced it was moving attack helicopters and thermobaric rocket launcher into the area.