Russian security officials denounce Ukrainian incursion into border region as Kyiv warns of ‘provocation’
Russian security officials claimed Thursday that a small Ukrainian armed group had crossed the Russian border in the southern Bryansk region, claims dismissed by a senior Ukrainian official as “classic deliberate provocation.”
The Russian Security Service (FSB) said in a statement via state media RIA Novosti on Thursday that the agency – which also oversees border control – was conducting joint operations with the Russian Defense Ministry to counter what it described as “armed Ukrainian nationalists who violated the state border” in the district.
Details so far have been sketchy, but the Russian state news agency TASS quoted an anonymous source in Russian security services as saying that up to six people were being held hostage in two towns in Russia’s Bryansk region, on the border. with Ukraine, for the alleged saboteurs. The spokesman for the governor of the Bryansk region said in statements to the Zvezda state military channel that a Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance group is operating on the territory of the village of Sushany, without providing additional information.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Vladimir Putin canceled a planned trip to southern Russia on Thursday because of the events and was being regularly briefed on what he described as a “terrorist attack.”
What Ukraine Says: An adviser to the Ukrainian President’s Office, Mykhailo Podolyak, says the Russian accusation is a provocation, or the work of local supporters who take a stand once morest the Kremlin, denying any Ukrainian involvement.
“Ukraine is not attacking,” Podolyak said, adding that this type of operation was consistent with previous Russian provocations. “This is classic Russia. He always goes provocative, lies, always creates informational pretexts.”
“Ukraine does not attack Russian territory, does not send special reconnaissance groups there, does not kill people, especially civilians. Ukraine does not need this. It is not a strategic object and there is no point in going there,” he added.
CNN cannot independently verify the Russian claims, and local media outlets have not released any images of the alleged fighting.
U.S. and Ukrainian officials have warned in the past that Russia has planned “false flag” attacks along Russia’s border with Ukraine as a pretext for military escalation, including Russian claims before last year’s large-scale invasion of that Ukraine was sending “saboteurs” across the Russian border.
“The story regarding a sabotage group [ucraniano] in the Russian Federation is a classic deliberate provocation,” Mykhailo Podolyak, adviser to the head of Ukraine’s Presidential Office, said in a statement on Twitter.
“The RF wants to scare its people to justify the attack on another country and the growing poverty following a year of war. The partisan movement in the Russian Federation is getting stronger and more aggressive. Fear your partisans…”.
Separately, the governor of the Kursk region in southern Russia posted a video statement on his Telegram channel stating that a village was being shelled by Ukrainian forces.
