On August 12, the Russian Defense Ministry accused Ukraine of planning to stage an attack on a frontline residential area, then blamed the Russian forces for creating a wave of international condemnation.
In an official statement, the Russian Defense Ministry said it had collected information from many sources showing that Kiev was preparing to take action to " biggest off the path" of the Russia-US bilateral dialogue process.
On August 11, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) reportedly sent a group of foreign reporters to the city of Chuguev, Kharkov province, under the pretence of "performing a series of reports on the lives of people in the frontline area". Moscow insists the real purpose was to prepare for filming the scene of a simulated attack, with images of civilian casualties.
According to the accusation, right before the conference, on August 14, the Ukrainian army planned to launch a staged attack with UAVs and missiles against a densely populated residential area or a hospital. This incident is expected to cause many casualties for civilians, creating conditions for Western reporters to "immediately record and broadcast" images and information.
With this province, all responsibility for the attack and civilian casualties will be doted on the Russian military, in order to create a negative media environment, undermining Russia-US cooperation in resolving the Ukrainian conflict, the Russian Defense Ministry said.
Moscow also recalled the incident in Bucha in April 2022, when the administration of President Volodymyr Zelensky accused the Russian army of murdering civilians near Kiev. Russia has repeatedly denied and called it a "trapless operation" by Ukraine, which took place after Russian forces withdrew from the town, with the aim of delaying peace talks in Istanbul at that time.
Ukraine has not yet responded officially to the new allegations. However, the incident could increase tensions in the context of Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump preparing for a high-level meeting that has received much attention from the international public.
