UPDATE - Moscow says it is fighting Ukrainian ‘saboteurs’ on Russian territory

ADDS PUTIN'S REMARKS, KREMLIN STATEMENT, NEW LEDE

By Elena Teslova

MOSCOW (AA) - Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that Ukrainian troops launched an offensive in Russia's Bryansk region, labeling it a "terrorist attack."

Speaking during a videoconference in Moscow, Putin said "the crime was committed by neo-Nazis."

"The soldiers and officers of the Russian army...are heroically fulfilling their duty, protecting Russia, our people, protecting them from neo–Nazis and from terrorists -- those who tortured and killed people in Donbass for eight years, those who killed in Moscow (journalist) Darya Dugina, those who today committed another terrorist act, another crime: violating the border and opening fire on civilians," he said.

He stressed that the car that was shot in the incident was "clearly civilian," "there were children sitting there," but this did not stop the offenders.

"This violence, the real crime is being committed by the neo-Nazis, whom I have just mentioned, and their masters," he stressed.

In a separate statement, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin is receiving regular reports on the situation in the Bryansk region "following an attack by Ukrainian militants."

The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) said Thursday that a battle is ongoing in Russia's Bryansk region to "neutralize" a group of Ukrainian "saboteurs."

"In the border in Klimovsky district of the Bryansk region, the FSB of Russia and the forces of the Defense Ministry of the Russian Federation are taking measures to destroy armed Ukrainian nationalists who violated the state border," it said in a statement.

According to Bryansk Governor Aleksandr Bogomaz, a group of Ukrainian "saboteurs" crossed the border with Russia on Thursday morning.

"Today, the sabotage and reconnaissance group penetrated from Ukraine to the territory of the Klimovsky district in the village of Lyubechane. Saboteurs shot a car. As a result of the shelling, one resident was killed and a 10-year-old child was injured," Bogomaz wrote on Telegram.

Citing multiple sources in law enforcement, Russian state-run news agency TASS said the battle with “several dozen armed fighters” is ongoing in Lyubechane and Sushany villages.

According to TASS, the Ukrainians took six people hostage.