Ukraine has denied claims that saboteurs crossed into western Russia and attacked villages, warning that Moscow could use the false allegations to justify stepping up its own attacks.
The exact circumstances of the incident reported in the Bryansk region were unclear, including what the strategic purpose of such an attack would be.
Russian president Vladimir Putin blamed Ukrainian “terrorists” for an incursion, claiming that they deliberately targeted civilians.
“It was yet another terror attack, another crime,” Mr Putin said during a video call. “They infiltrated the area near the border and opened fire on civilians.”
Asked by reporters whether it could warrant a change in the status of what Russia still calls “the special military operation” in Ukraine, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov responded with a coy “I can’t say for now”.
Mr Peskov said that Mr Putin cancelled a planned trip to southern Russia on Thursday and was receiving reports on the situation from the regional governor.
The alleged incursion came just days after Mr Putin ordered the Federal Security Service to tighten controls on Russia’s border with Ukraine.
Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak described the Russian reports as “a classic deliberate provocation”.
Russia “wants to scare its people to justify the attack on another country (and) the growing poverty after the year of war”, he tweeted, suggesting that the attack was the work of Russian partisans.
Russia’s Federal Security Service said...
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