Moscow, Feb 21 (UNI/Xinhua): Russian President Vladimir Putin is expected to make a televised address to the nation shortly, his spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Sputnik.
“Yes,” Peskov said when asked if the president’s address was being prepared.
On Monday, Putin held an extraordinary large meeting of the Russian Security Council, where he discussed the issue of recognizing the DPR and LPR. After listening to the reports of the security council members, Putin said that he would make a decision later on Monday.
An earlier report said Russian forces destroyed two Ukrainian combat vehicles that violated the Russian state border on Monday. At about 6 am Moscow time in the border area of Russia’s Rostov region, Federal Security Service (FSB) officers discovered the penetration of a sabotage and reconnaissance group from Ukraine, the Russian Defense Ministry said.
To detain the intruders, the FSB border detachment requested reinforcements from the Southern Military District of the Russian armed forces, it said in a statement.
During the clash, two infantry fighting vehicles of the “Ukrainian Armed Forces entered Russia” to urgently evacuate the sabotage and reconnaissance group, said the statement.
A unit of the Russian armed forces promptly arrived at the scene of the clash and destroyed “both Ukrainian vehicles” by using anti-tank weapons, said the statement.
Five members of the sabotage and reconnaissance group were killed, while there was no casualty among the Russian troops and the FSB officers, it said.
Rejecting the allegation, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba tweeted, “Ukraine did NOT send saboteurs or APCs (armored personnel carriers) over the Russian border, shell Russian territory or shell Russian border crossing.”
