Russia announced Thursday that it had repulsed a group of Ukrainian "saboteurs" who tried to infiltrate its territory through the Bryansk border region , where a Ukrainian pilot was arrested on Wednesday.

And the governor of the region, Alexander Bogomaz, stated via the Telegram application that "the border guard force of the Russian Federal Security Service in the Bryansk region thwarted an attempt to incursion into Russian territory by a Ukrainian reconnaissance and sabotage group of twenty members near the village of Sluchovsk."

"Units of the Russian armed forces and units of border guards opened fire on the enemy," he added.

In recent weeks, the Russian authorities have reported several attempts of incursions by "saboteurs" from Ukraine into the border regions, which are regularly subjected to artillery fire or drone attacks.

On Wednesday, the Russian security services announced the arrest of a Ukrainian pilot after his small plane crashed near a village in the Bryansk region.

In early March, the Russian authorities announced an incursion into the Bryansk region by a group coming from Ukraine, which, according to the security services, opened fire on a car, killing two civilians and injuring a child.

On Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the security forces to "do everything possible to ensure the safety of the population," both in Russia and in the occupied Ukrainian regions, where several pro-Russian officials have been killed in the past months.

Ukraine does not acknowledge its responsibility for "sabotage" operations in Russian territory, and Kiev, in particular, denied any involvement in the bombing that caused severe damage to the Crimean bridge last fall.

But in early March, hundreds of people took part in Kiev at the funeral of fighters from a self-propelled volunteer battalion killed during a "sabotage" mission in Russia.