Russia’s military said on Monday that troops and border guards had prevented a “diversionary reconnaissance” group from breaching Russia’s border from Ukrainian territory and that five people had been killed, Russian news agencies reported.
Ukraine rejected the report, calling it “fake news”, and said no Ukrainian forces were present in the Rostov region where the incident was alleged to have taken place. Interfax cited the Russian military as saying that Ukrainian armed vehicles had been destroyed.
Earlier, Russia’s FSB security service said a shell from Ukrainian territory had completely destroyed a border guard post in Russia’s Rostov region but had caused no casualties, the Interfax news agency reported. The incident occurred 150 meters from the border between Russia and Ukraine,
Interfax cited the FSB as saying. Sporadic shelling across the line dividing Ukrainian government forces and pro-Russian separatists in the east has intensified since Thursday.
Meanwhile, Kremlin on Monday said that it is too early to organize a summit between Putin and Biden after Paris announced the possibility of a meeting to calm tensions over Ukraine.
“It’s premature to talk about any specific plans for organizing any kind of summits,” Kremlin spokesman Peskov said, news agency AFP reported.
This came after in a diplomatic gambit brokered by French President Emmanuel Macron, the White House said US President Joe Biden has agreed “in principle” to a meeting with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin as long as he holds off on launching an assault on Ukraine that US officials warn appears increasingly more likely.
