The Russian security services (FSB) claimed Thursday night to have repelled “Ukrainian nationalists” infiltrated according to Moscow in the Russian region of Bryansk, bordering Ukraine, and that they would have opened fire on civilians.
“As a result of the measures taken, the incursion of Ukrainian nationalists has been stopped,” the FSB said in a statement, quoted by Russian news agencies. “The enemy was pushed into Ukrainian territory and was attacked there by a massive artillery strike,” the statement said.
According to the FSB, a “large amount of explosives” was discovered and cleanup operations were underway.
“We Will Crush Them”
Russian President Vladimir Putin denounced a “terrorist” attack on Thursday after Moscow reported an incursion by Ukrainian “saboteurs” into a southwestern region of Russia bordering Ukraine, which Kiev denied.
According to Russian authorities, two civilians were killed and an 11-year-old boy injured after ‘saboteurs’ opened fire on a car in the village of Lyubetchané in the Bryansk region, located right on the border with Ukraine.
In a televised speech, Vladimir Putin denounced an attack by “neo-Nazis” and “terrorists” who “opened fire on civilians.”
“We will crush them,” he said.
A “deliberate provocation”
The Ukrainian presidency denied these accusations, seeing in them a “deliberate provocation” which, according to it, is intended to justify the military offensive that Moscow has been carrying out in Ukraine for more than a year.
Since the beginning of the conflict in Ukraine, various Russian regions have been subjected to shelling. But raids by “saboteurs” are rare.
Moscow this week reported an increase in Ukrainian drone raids on Russian territory and annexed Crimea. One plane even crashed, for the first time, in the Moscow region.
Source: BFM TV
