Russian military claims it destroyed two Ukrainian infantry fighting vehicles that allegedly crossed the border

Two Ukrainian infantry fighting vehicles were destroyed after allegedly crossing the border into Russian territory, state media reported on Monday, February 21, citing the press service of Russia’s Southern Military District.

“A unit of the Southern Military District together with a border detachment of the Russian FSB prevented a breach of Russia’s state border by a sabotage and reconnaissance group from the territory of Ukraine,” the press service reported, as quoted by RIA Novosti. 

Allegedly, five Ukrainian soldiers were killed when the two vehicles were destroyed. “There were no casualties among the Russian armed forces and the Russian FSB border troops,” the military press service told Interfax.

The “sabotage and reconnaissance group” was reportedly discovered by an FSB border detachment around 6:00 a.m. Moscow time, near the settlement of Mityakinskaya in the Rostov region.

At the time of this writing, the Ukrainian authorities had yet to comment on the Russian military’s statement.

Over the past several days, the de facto authorities of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk “people’s republics” have been reporting shelling by the Ukrainian military. Ukraine’s authorities deny these allegations. On February 18, the DNR and LNR announced the evacuation of local residents to Russia. According to Russia’s Emergencies Ministry, more than 60,000 evacuees had arrived as of Monday morning. The seven Russian regions that are taking in evacuees are under a state of emergency.

In early February, the U.S. State Department reported that Russia was planning to fabricate a pretext for a further invasion of Ukraine, possibly by producing videos of a staged attack that could be used to justify a military escalation. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov refuted the allegations, saying that “nothing came of” similar reports in the past.