A Ukrainian soldier drives a tank towards frontline positions near Bakhmut, Ukraine, Wednesday, March 1, 2023. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian officials on Thursday accused Ukrainian saboteurs of entering western Russia and attacking local villages, but Ukraine denied the accusation, saying it This was a Russian pretext to intensify its attacks.

The exact circumstances of the reported incident in the Bryansk region were unclear, as was the strategic objective of such an attack.

If confirmed, it would be another indication, after the drone attacks earlier in the week, that Kiev could take the fighting into Russian territory, exposing its rival’s defensive weakness, embarrassing the Kremlin and sowing unease among the Russian population.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has accused Ukrainian “terrorists” of a raid in which they deliberately targeted civilians, including children, “in a new terrorist attack, a new crime”.

“They infiltrated the area near the border and opened fire on civilians,” Putin said in a video call. “They saw a civilian vehicle with civilians, with children in it, and they fired at it.”

A few days ago, Putin ordered the Federal Security Service, the successor agency to the KGB, to tighten control of the border with Ukraine.

Russian warmongering sectors have expressed dissatisfaction with what they see as Putin’s reluctance to declare martial law and order a general mobilization, but the Russian president’s statements do not appear to point in that direction.

The announcement itself raised fears that the Russian authorities could use it to retaliate with new attacks in the second year of the war.

Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak called it a “classic deliberate provocation”.

Russia “wants to scare its people to justify an attack on another country (and) growing poverty after the year of war,” he tweeted, implying that the attack was the work of Russian partisans.

Amid conflicting initial reports, Russia’s Federal Security Service said fighting with the sabotage unit was taking place in the Bryansk region.

Bryansk Governor Alexander Bogomaz said the attackers killed two civilians and injured a child in the village of Lyubechane.

The Federal Security Service said it acted in concert with the army to “eliminate armed Ukrainian nationalists who violated the state border”. He later added that he had deported the attackers to Ukraine, where “a massive artillery attack was inflicted on them”. It was not possible to verify these claims.

Citing the country’s security forces, Tas had previously reported that the saboteurs had taken six people hostage. The governor of the region claimed that the group had fired on a vehicle and killed a man, in addition to injuring a child under 10 years old.

The drones that the Kremlin says were launched by Ukraine entered Russian territory on Tuesday, with one approaching within 100 kilometers (60 miles) of the capital Moscow.

Thursday’s apparent raid was also embarrassing for Putin, days after he ordered the Federal Security Service to tighten border controls with Ukraine.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin had canceled a trip to southern Russia scheduled for Thursday and was receiving briefings from the regional governor on the situation. Details of the alleged attack were still being clarified.

According to Tass, citing an unnamed security official, two towns in Bryansk province, Sushany and Lyubechane, were attacked by “several dozen armed fighters”.

Alexander Bogomaz, the governor of Bryansk on the border with Ukraine, said the group fired at a vehicle in Lyubechane, killing a man and injuring a minor. In addition, a Ukrainian drone crashed into a house in Sushany and set it on fire, he added.

In Ukraine, three people were killed and six others injured on Thursday when a Russian missile hit a five-storey building in the southeastern city of Zaporizhia, police said.

The shell destroyed several floors of the building in the early hours of the morning, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.

So far, the state emergency service has rescued 11 people, the department said in an online statement.

Zaporizhia had more than 700,000 inhabitants before Kremlin troops invaded the neighboring country just over a year ago. It is the administrative capital of the province of the same name, which is partially occupied and houses the largest nuclear power plant in Europe.

Russian artillery, drones and missiles have been hitting kyiv-controlled areas in the south and east of the country for months. Moscow denies attacking civilian targets, but its indiscriminate bombardment has caused widespread destruction in urban centers.

During the winter months, the war slowed down to near stalemate.

Zelenskyy said Russia “wants to make every day a day of terror for our people… But evil will not rule our land.”

Meanwhile, the bitter battle for control of Bájmut, a key stronghold in the east of the country, continues. Ukrainian officials have said their army could make a strategic withdrawal there.

The Ukrainian General Staff reported that Russian troops “continue to advance and storm the city”, but Kyiv forces repelled some of the attacks. Donetsk Oblast Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said one person was injured on Thursday morning.

Bakhmut was among the towns and villages in the Donetsk region that were shelled by Russia, according to the Ukrainian army command note.

Taking the city would not only mark a rare victory for Russian forces on the battlefield after months of setbacks, but could break Ukrainian supply lines and allow Kremlin troops to advance on other Kyiv strongholds in Province.

Ukrainian emergency service firefighters inspect a house damaged after a Russian shelling, in Zaporizhia, Ukraine, March 2, 2023. (AP Photo/Kateryna Klochko)
Ukrainian emergency service firefighters inspect a house damaged after a Russian shelling, in Zaporizhia, Ukraine, March 2, 2023. (AP Photo/Kateryna Klochko)

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