Ukraine denies Russia’s claim of shell firing on its facility

At a time when the US is accusing Russia of positioning 1,000,00 troops along the Ukraine borders to start a war, Moscow issued a statement on Monday (February 21) saying a shell fired from Ukraine damaged a facility owned by Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB).

Ukraine was quick to respond to Russia’s charge, stating that its military did not attack FSB’s facility, calling it a “fake news”.

Earlier, Russia’s Federal Security Service issued a statement: “On February 21, at 9:50 am (0650 GMT), an unidentified projectile fired from Ukraine completely destroyed a border facility used by the FSB border guard service in the Rostov region, around 150 meters from the Russian-Ukrainian border.”

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Russia said no injuries were reported in the alleged missile fired from the Ukrainian side. It also issued a video that purportedly shows a damaged one-room building with a Russian flag leaning against strewn debris.

Ukrainian military spokesman Pavlo Kovalchuk told media persons: “We couldn’t stop them producing this fake news, but we always emphasise that we do not shoot at civilian infrastructure, or into some territory in the Rostov region or whatever.”

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US-led NATO forces have been camping on the eastern borders of Ukraine to prevent a potential attack on the country from the Russian side. US says their move is guided by Russia’s continued military build-up along the Ukraine border.

Moscow has all along claimed that NATO is undermining the region’s security and its forces are acting only to secure its security interests.

Kyiv claims more than 14,000 people have died in the fighting since 2014.