Russia’s Supreme Investigation Authority is investigating whether the SAS is “organizing sabotage” in Ukraine.
The Investigative Committee, Moscow’s main federal investigative body, said it would monitor a report by Russia’s RIA Novosti news agency.
RIA quoted a Russian security source as saying that about 20 SAS members were stationed in the western Lviv region, near the Polish border.
The investigative committee said it would check whether, according to the report, the SAS had been sent to “assist Ukrainian special services in organizing sabotage in Ukraine”.
A recent report in The Times, published on April 15, said that British special forces had begun training “local troops in Kyiv for the first time since the start of the war with Russia.”
The newspaper quoted Captain Yuri Mironenko as saying that military instructors had arrived to instruct new and returning servicemen to use anti-tank missiles supplied by the United Kingdom.
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0:41 In the bunkers below the detention neighborhood
A week before the Russian invasion began, the British government said it had withdrawn all but one needed to protect its ambassador.
The temporarily closed embassy in Kyiv will reopen next week, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced.
Information about SAS – the special air service – is often strictly classified. His operations include direct action and covert intelligence.
A Defense Ministry spokesman said: “We are not commenting on special forces.”
A defense source said: “We do not comment on stories about special forces, especially those pushed by Russian news agencies, because inaccurate speculation can endanger people’s lives, so we neither confirm nor deny reports. “
Other key developments:
• Johnson talks to Zelensky about “new phase” of military aid • Attempt to evacuate civilians from Mariupol fails • British intelligence suggests Russia has not made significant progress in 24 hours • Satellite images appear to reveal mass grave outside Mariupol
Missile strikes on Odessa
At least five people were killed, including a three-month-old baby, after rocket attacks in the southwestern port city on Saturday afternoon, Ukrainian authorities said.
Another 18 people were injured, they added.
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0:21 Numerous air strikes have been reported in Odessa
The missiles are said to have destroyed a military facility and two residential buildings in the city.
Russian forces fired at least six cruise missiles, but most were shot down by Ukrainian forces, officials said.
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