Moscow, which sent thousands of troops to Ukraine on February 24 in what it called a “special military operation,” has accused Ukraine of attacking Russian targets across the border. “Yesterday … they tried to throw mortars at the position of our border guards in the Suzhanski region,” said Roman Starovit, governor of the Kursk region. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register “The Russian border guards responded to the fire … There were no casualties or damage on our part.” Reuters could not immediately verify the report. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peshkov said he did not yet have details of the incidents in the two Russian regions, but described the reports as “serious”. Asked about the incident at the border, a spokesman for the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said: “We do not have such information.” Starovoit said officials were in contact with the Ministry of Defense and urged citizens to remain calm. In separate comments to the RIA news agency, he said that the mortars fired at the Suzha border crossing had not reached Russian territory. The mayor of the Russian city of Belgorod, about 35 kilometers (22 miles) from the border with Ukraine, said schools had been evacuated following bomb threats. “We understand that this is part of the information (campaign) pressure against our region,” said Mayor Anton Ivanov, without saying who he thought was responsible for the threats. Russia last week accused Ukrainian military helicopters of carrying out an air strike on a fuel depot in Belgorod, one of Russia’s main logistics hubs for its military campaign in Ukraine. A senior Ukrainian official has denied responsibility. The Kremlin said at the time that the incident did not create comfortable conditions for peace talks with Kyiv to continue. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register Report by Reuters. Editing by Conor Humphries and John Stonestreet Our role models: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
