Russia's military claims it has killed 5 saboteurs from Ukraine that illegally crossed LAC

As a full-blown war-like scenario unfolds in the Donbas region, the Russian Army on Monday said that it has shot down five Ukrainian "saboteurs" accusing them of crossing into the Ukrainian territory. Russian soldiers and border guards stated Moscow’s Defence Ministry, stopped a sabotage group from Ukraine from crossing the border illegally, said Russia’s Southern Military District in a statement. "A detachment of the Border Directorate of the Federal Security Service of Russia for the Rostov Region, together with units covering the border of the Southern Military District, discovered an unknown group on two infantry fighting vehicles that violated the border from Ukraine to the Russian Federation. The group was stopped and destroyed during armed resistance," the update on Russia’s Southern Military District on Facebook read. 

"As a result of clashes, five people who violated the Russian border from a group of saboteurs were killed," the military said in a statement, adding the incident occurred near the village of Mityakinskaya in the Rostov region at 06:00 am,” read the Russian Army statement on Monday as the situation deteriorated in the Donetsk breakaway territory. 

Ukrainian military vehicles 'illegally entered Russian border': Russia's Defense Ministry 

Russian troops and Federal Security Service (FSB) border security forces killed Ukrainian saboteurs after they attempted to “illegally enter the Russian border,” stated the Russian military. Head of Russia's Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykin, ordered the incident related to the violence to be investigated immediately. At least two Ukrainian military vehicles had crossed into Russia to evacuate Kyiv’s saboteurs, said the Russian side.

No casualties were reported among Russian troops or border guards. Separatist leaders in the eastern flank of Ukraine had ordered a ‘full military mobilisation’ as violence in the war-torn region escalated with intense military shelling and artillery in the volatile areas. Denis Pushilin, the head of the pro-Russia separatist government in Ukraine’s Donetsk region, had released a statement accusing the Ukrainian forces of “aggression.” 

“I appeal to all the men in the republic who can hold weapons to defend their families, their children, wives, mothers,” Pushilin appealed in the statement on telegram channels. ”Together we will achieve the coveted victory that we all need.”

Ukrainian military on Monday had refuted Russian-backed DPR's declaration of war in the contentious Donbas region, saying that Ukrainian soldiers remain in their positions and haven't advanced an inch, as claimed by the Russian-backed militia leaders.  Russia is falsely accusing the Ukrainian Army of allegedly shelling a Russian border guard post in the Rostov region. “This is simply untrue,” the Ukrainian Army had asserted. 

A spokesperson for the militia of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), Eduard Basurin, had claimed that Ukrainian forces have begun implementing their Donbas invasion plan, declaring that a war has started in the Donbas. The conflict in eastern Ukraine has been ongoing for over eight years, according to the UN and more than 13,000 victims have suffered, and about 44,000 have been injured due to clashes between Ukraine Army and Russian separatists.