Kyiv on Thursday dismissed as a “deliberate provocation” claims that a group of Ukrainian saboteurs had crossed into the southern Russian Bryansk region and opened fire on civilians, APA reports citing The Barron’s.

“The story about (a) sabotage group in Russia is a classic deliberate provocation. Russia wants to scare its people to justify the attack on another country and the growing poverty after the year of war,” Ukrainian presidential advisor Mykhaylo Podolyak said on Twitter.

Source: Azeri-Press News Agency