(Reuters) – Russia’s FSB has killed or detained members of a Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance group in the Bryansk province, which borders Ukraine, the security service said on Thursday.
In a statement, it said two of the fighters had been killed on Wednesday evening in the Navlinsky district just south of the regional capital and five detained, three of whom were injured.
Footage aired on the state-run television news channel Rossiya 24 showed seven automatic rifles along with two dozen magazines and a dozen grenades allegedly captured in the operation.
The FSB said the group had been equipped with American-made machine guns with silencers, explosives and a large number of NATO-style grenades and cartridges. It said the group included members of Ukrainian intelligence services and military special forces.
Bryansk and other provinces adjoining Ukraine have this year increasingly suffered drone attacks, shelling, explosions and armed incursions, for which Russia blames Ukraine.
Reuters was unable to verify the details of the FSB report. Kyiv, which is seeking to repel a Russian invasion that Moscow calls a “special military operation”, hardly ever comments on operations within Russia attributed to it by Moscow.
(Reporting by Reuters; Writing by Kevin Liffey; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)
