[モスクワ ２日 ロイター] – A Russian news agency reported on the 2nd that in Bryansk Oblast, which borders Ukraine, a Ukrainian sabotage group has taken hostages at a store and is fighting Russian forces.
Ukraine, meanwhile, denies it as a fake “provocation” by Russia.
“Ukrainian sabotage groups infiltrated two villages and took local residents hostage in one of them. They engaged soldiers of the Russian National Guard,” state-run TASS news agency quoted a security official as saying.
Several people were taken hostage at a store in Lubechanye, a village less than a kilometer from the Ukrainian border, Russian news agency RIA said, citing local officials.
Earlier, Bryansk governor Bogomaz wrote on the messaging app Telegram that a Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance group had entered Lubechanye and opened fire on a car, killing a resident.
It also said Ukrainian forces carried out drone strikes and shelled another area near the border.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia was responding to the defeat of “Ukrainian terrorists” and that Putin had been briefed on the situation by security officials and Defense Minister Shoigu.
Putin also called it a terrorist act.
