Ukrainian foreign secretary Dmytro Kuleba has issued a warning over 'worrying reports' he says may suggest Russia has prepared a 'false flag operation'.
Taking to Twitter, Kuleba said 'the barbaric nature of Russian actions' was behind Ukrainian fears that the Kremlin might have the Russian military attack their own territory in a bid to justify Vladimir Putin's invasion.
A false flag operation is where one side takes an action and attempts to blame their enemy for it. They have been employed throughout history to trigger wars, with the BBC recounting the Nazis used one against Poland to trigger World War II.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine began on February 24 on Putin's orders, with hundreds having since been killed in the fighting and over a million people forced to flee Ukraine as civilian casualties rise.
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Russia has said it will fight to 'the end' and keep attacking until it has achieved all its goals in the conflict.
However, the international backlash to the invasion has been strong with harsh sanctions placed on Russia by several countries, as well as domestic discontent against the Putin regime as thousands of Russian people protest against the invasion.
As per the BBC, so-called false flag operations were also used in the annexation of Crimea in 2014, where people were seen dressed and armed exactly like Russian soldiers only without Russian insignias.
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The Kremlin, however, claimed they were 'local self-defence groups' who wanted to 'return' the region to Russian control.
In the days leading up to the current invasion the Russian authorities cited a number of incidents in Eastern Ukraine they claimed justified military action and showed Ukrainians 'are not interested in a peaceful solution', the BBC reports.
In response, the Ukrainian government denied the allegations and the US warned Russia was trying to stage a false flag incident which would give them pretext to invade Ukraine.
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Topics: Russia, Ukraine, Vladimir Putin, World News
Joe Harker