Initially it was said that a Ukrainian sabotage group had entered the village of Liubechane, and later it became known that armed people wearing yellow bracelets (similar to those used by Ukrainian forces) were also walking around in broad daylight in the town of Sushany. They were different groups, Samusev declared.

According to him, the group that entered Sushany “limited themselves to shooting and scaring people”, recorded a video and “quickly moved away from there”. “They attacked, possibly with a grenade launcher, a residential house, which was completely burnt down,” although there were no fatalities in the town.

According to the official, a second Ukrainian group fired at civilians, took photos and arrived at a nursing and obstetrics station in the town of Liubechane. A boiler worker who was on his way home was murdered, Samusev added.

The Russian Federal Security Service stated that they took “measures to destroy armed Ukrainian nationalists who had violated the state border” in cooperation with Defense Ministry forces.

Russian President Vladimir Putin canceled a planned trip to the city of Piatigorsk, called the incident a “terrorist act”, and called a meeting of the Russian Security Council for this Friday.

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