Russia accuses Ukrainian military of attacks on its territory
The Russian authorities seem to have passed the point of no return in the escalation of the crisis around Ukraine.
On Monday, January 21, the Russian Defense Ministry said a Ukrainian saboteur and reconnaissance group and Ukrainian infantry armored vehicles crossed into Russia.
The incident, according to the Russian Defense Ministry, occurred at about 6:00 am Moscow time near the village of Mityakinskaya (Rostov region).
"As a result of the clash, five violators of the border of the Russian Federation from the sabotage and reconnaissance group were destroyed," Interfax quoted the press service of the Southern Military District as saying.
According to the Russian Southern Military District, two infantry fighting vehicles of the Ukrainian Armed Forces crossed into Russian territory for an emergency evacuation of the sabotage group.
They were also destroyed by "a unit of the Russian armed forces that quickly arrived at the scene of the clash and opened fire."
Earlier on Monday, the Center for Public Relations of the Russian FSB reported that a shell launched from the territory of Ukraine destroyed the border crossing kiosk in the Rostov region.
An informed source allegedly told the Russian state-owned news agency Interfax that the shell hit the border crossing in the Neklinovsky district, near the village of Shcherbakovo.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba denied all these reports. Ukraine did not attack Donetsk and Luhansk, did not send armored personnel vehicles and saboteurs across the border, did not shell the territory of Russia, Kuleba said.