MOSCOW (AP) – Ukraine’s president put his army on combat alert Thursday along the country’s de-facto borders with Crimea and separatist rebels in the east as a war of words between Russia and Ukraine threatened to heat up the largely frozen conflict over the Black Sea peninsula.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko issued the order after Moscow accused his country of sending in “saboteurs” to carry out attacks in Crimea.
Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in March 2014 following a hastily called referendum, a move that sparked fighting between Russia-backed separatists and government forces in eastern Ukraine. The conflict in the east has killed over 9,500 people and is still ongoing.
The Russian intelligence service FSB issued a statement Wednesday, saying one of its officers was killed over the weekend a few kilometers (miles) from the de-facto border between Crimea and Ukraine after a gun battle with a group of “saboteurs” from Ukraine.
The FSB said the intruders carried an arsenal of bombs, ammunition and mines. They also reported another alleged incident in which two more groups tried to force their way into Crimea early Monday, supported by Ukrainian artillery and armor. One Russian army soldier died in that clash, the FSB said.