A day after videos showed Russian troops planting a Russian flag in a grey zone near the border in Ukraine's Chernihiv Oblast, Ukraine's State Border Guard Service released a video showing a drone destroying the flag on Nov. 16.
"Intelligence indicated that the Russian sabotage and reconnaissance group left the area even before the elimination of the established flags, not daring to take further action," the service wrote in a statement accompanying the video.
"This is another unsuccessful attempt by the enemy to impose its 'victories,' and nothing more than a psychological trick that has no military meaning," the statement continued.
Russian military bloggers a day earlier posted videos appearing to show Russian troops planting a flag on the bridge over the Sudost River near the border settlement of Hremiach and claimed they entered Hremiach and Muravi.
A spokesperson for the Border Service denied that Russian forces entered the settlements and said that they did not cross the bridge.
The spokesperson, Andrii Demchenko, added that no major defensive was detected and Ukraine has deployed additional forces in the area to fend off acts of sabotage from Russia.
Chernihiv Oblast is located on Ukraine’s northern border with Russia and Belarus. It was partially occupied during Russia's initial offensive in February 2022, but the invading force retreated in April after the Kremlin failed to take Kyiv.
The Kyiv IndependentThe Kyiv Independent news desk