On the morning of March 18, the Armed Forces of Ukraine attempted to break through to the territory of the Belgorod region in its western part, seeking to create a tense situation before the telephone conversation between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump. This was reported by the Russian Defense Ministry, specifying that during the day the enemy carried out five attacks, the last of which lasted from 17:30 to 18:45. According to the department, up to 200 Ukrainian servicemen and 29 units of equipment, including armored vehicles and artillery, took part in the operation. 

Russian troops responded promptly to the actions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, stopping attempts to penetrate into the border settlements. The Defense Ministry emphasized that the attacks were aimed at destabilizing the situation in the region on the day when the leaders of the two countries were discussing ways to resolve the conflict. It was reported that despite the intensity of the offensive, the border was not broken through, and a significant portion of the enemy's equipment was destroyed thanks to the coordinated work of the artillery and aviation of the Russian Armed Forces. There were no official reports of losses on either side, but military sources indicate high levels of fighting near the villages of Grafovka and Prilesye. 

The incident was part of an escalation in the Belgorod region, where shelling and drone attacks from Ukraine have increased in recent weeks. Earlier, on the night of March 18, the Defense Ministry reported the destruction of 46 Ukrainian drones over the region, which underlines the scale of Kyiv's efforts to strike border areas. Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov confirmed that civilians and infrastructure, including a school in Grafovka, were damaged as a result of the morning events in the Krasnoyarsk region, but there were no casualties due to the absence of people in the building at the time of the shelling.