Russia's defense ministry claimed it had "thwarted" an armed incursion by Ukrainian armed forces and "sabotage and reconnaissance groups" into its western border regions of Kursk and Belgorod Tuesday.
Earlier, anti-Kremlin armed groups purportedly made up of Russians opposed to the Ukraine war said they had launched an incursion across Russia's border on Tuesday.
Ukraine has not commented on the Russian defense ministry's latest claim although an Ukrainian military spokesman confirmed earlier that rebel groups were conducting an operation on Russian territory independently of Ukraine.
It's unconfirmed whether Ukraine's armed forces were also involved in the incursion, as Russia suggested. Russia tends to characterize Russian rebel groups are "Ukrainian saboteurs."
The Ukraine-based Freedom of Russia Legion and the Siberian Battalion announced earlier on their Telegram pages that they had launched attacks into Russia from Ukraine. They said they intended to "take our land away from the [Putin] regime, centimeter by centimeter" and called on Russians to boycott the forthcoming presidential election.
A third Russian rebel group, the Russian Volunteer Corps, appeared to confirm its participation in the operation on its Telegram account.
It's not the first time the groups have been active with two of the pro-Ukrainian Russian rebel groups launching raids into Russia's Belgorod region last May and June.
Roman Starovoit, the governor of Russia's Kursk region, which is on the border with Ukraine, said earlier Tuesday that a "sabotage and reconnaissance group" had tried to break into the Kursk region but failed.
Earlier, Russia's defense ministry said seven regions were targeted by a wave of Ukrainian drones overnight, with attacks carried out against the Belgorod, Bryansk, Kursk, Leningrad, Moscow, Oryol and Tula regions.