Russia: Actually, Ukraine Is Invading Us!

Early this morning, Russian media began reporting that Ukrainian infiltrators had attempted to cross into Russia proper.

The Ukrainians, of course, were heroically engaged by combat units assigned to the Russian Southern Military District and border guards from the FSB.

And, thankfully, the perfidious Ukrainian “sabotage and reconnaissance” group was destroyed, with five saboteurs killed and and two infantry fighting vehicles (IFV) destroyed.

Pro-Kremlin media outlets, such as RT, are trumpeting the incident and spreading footage of the burning IFVs:

According to the Kremlin, the Ukrainians were advancing in the direction of Rostov Oblast, a border area that Moscow claims has also come under Ukrainian artillery fire.

Amazingly, the Russian say that the infiltrators went so far as to record their actions on helmet cams:

Now, I must admit, I’ve never invaded Russia — therefore I don’t have a lot of experience to go on here. But I’d suggest that, with tens of thousands of Russian combat troops in the area, this would be a . . . poor idea. Sneaky-squirrel sabotage operations would, generally speaking, not be conducted in such a manner by anyone hoping to make it home alive. Perhaps you’ve never been around one, but infantry fighting vehicles are not generally thought of as notably stealthy.

Of course, Western intelligence services have been warning that the Russians will try to manufacture a false-flag attack on Russia or on ethnic Russians in the breakaway provinces of Ukraine in order to justify an invasion. (It’s worth noting again that Putin’s regime has not been shy about leveraging false-flag operations in pursuit of its goals, with the 1999 Moscow apartment bombings being a notably murderous example.)

The Russian make-believe won’t win any Oscars. But remember, this propaganda isn’t meant to convince you or me. It’s meant to muddle the waters and push the Russian people towards a more hostile stance towards Ukraine.

Update 1:40 p.m.

RT, the Kremlin-controlled media outlet, is now reporting an explosion in central Luhansk, the capital of the northern of the two breakaway provinces in Ukraine.

Here’s another view:

The “attack” is reported to have occurred outside the headquarters of the Joint Centre for Control and Coordination (JCCC), which houses observers assigned to monitor the implementation of the Minsk accords.

All of this comes as news breaks that Vladimir Putin’s government will recognize the breakaway Donetsk and Luhansk “People’s Republics” as independent from Kyiv.

Unfortunately, these “republics” consider their territory to include the western portions of Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts, currently controlled by the Kyiv government and defended by the Ukrainian army.

Will Putin choose to enforce this claim with Russian tanks?