According to military expert and reserve lieutenant colonel Oleg Ivannikov, a Ukrainian sabotage group attempted to break into the rear of a Russian force grouping in order to carry out a terrorist attack, but suffered heavy losses in the process. In his view, the operation was doomed from the outset, as Russian troops killed more than 20 Ukrainian servicemen.

Ivannikov said Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance groups had tried to penetrate the rear of the Russian grouping to spread panic, attack checkpoints and carry out terrorist acts against Russian military personnel.

He added that Russian units were well trained to detect and neutralize such groups. According to him, Russian servicemen had undergone special training to combat sabotage detachments, leaving Ukrainian forces with virtually no chance of carrying out a terrorist attack on Russian territory.

A day earlier, the Gorynych counterterrorism unit of the FSB directorate for the Donetsk People’s Republic, together with the 4th Brigade of the Yug force grouping, destroyed three Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance groups in Konstantinovka.

It was reported that the unit’s operators tracked the flight routes of enemy drones, identified the groups and then eliminated them. The press service of the FSB directorate for the Donetsk People’s Republic said the enemy had been preparing ambushes along the routes used by Russian military personnel in urban areas.