Europe

Ukraine dismisses Russian claims of attacks on separatists backed by Moscow

by Sarakshi Rai - 02/21/22 9:42 AM ET

Ukraine on Monday has dismissed Russian accusations that they attacked two Russian-backed separatist enclaves and called the claims disinformation, according to The Washington Post.

Ukrainian Minister of Information Policy Oleksandr Tkachenko told reporters that the reports of explosions were false and the mass evacuation ordered Friday by the pro-Moscow separatist leaders was contrived to mislead people, the Post added.

Tkachenko added that Russia was manufacturing lies about Ukraine shelling the separatist enclaves in eastern Ukraine to create a false “picture of war.”

Russia’s FSB security service said on Monday that a shell fired from Ukrainian territory had destroyed a border guard post in Russia’s Rostov region but that there were no casualties, Reuters reported.

The newswire added that Russian state news agency RIA shared video footage published by the FSB, which showed that a small guard post had been destroyed.

However, Ukraine has denied Russian accusations and the country’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, tweeted at Russia on Monday to “stop your fake-producing factory.”

He added that Ukraine did not “attack Donetsk or Luhansk” or “send saboteurs or APCs [armored personnel carriers] over the Russian border.”

In his tweet, Kuleba emphasized that Ukraine did not shell Russian territory or the Russian border crossing.

There have been an increased number of Russian forces on the Ukrainian border, with the total now believed to be as many as 190,000.

For weeks, U.S. intelligence findings have pointed to Russia potentially carrying out a false flag operation to create a pretext to invade Ukraine.

President Biden and other White House officials have promised to impose harsh and swift sanctions on Russia should it move forward with an invasion.

This comes one day after Biden agreed to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the coming days on the condition that Russia does not proceed with an invasion of Ukraine.

Tags Biden-Putin meeting Joe Biden Russia troop buildup Ukraine US intelligence Vladimir Putin