A Russian partisan group with ties to the Ukrainian military claimed on Thursday that it had briefly taken control of a small border village, in what would represent a rare known example of saboteurs crossing into Russia to carry out an operation.
President Vladimir V. Putin canceled a scheduled trip to the Caucasus region to be briefed on the incursion, the Kremlin said. He denounced the episode as a “terrorist” attack, a label Russia frequently applies to military setbacks in the war in Ukraine.
It remained unclear what happened in the village, although the incursion appeared to be over by Thursday afternoon. The group that claimed responsibility, the Russian Volunteer Corps, is led by a Russian nationalist in exile who opposes Mr. Putin’s rule and has been fighting for the Ukrainian cause.
It is unclear whether the group operates with the assent of the Ukrainian government, as it claims.
The group posted a video on Thursday of two armed men outside what appeared to be a medical building in the village of Lyubichane, in the Russian region of Bryansk, near the Ukrainian border.“Russian Volunteer Corps came to Bryansk region to show the compatriots that there is hope, that free Russian people with weapons in their hands can fight the regime,” said a caption on the video that the organization posted on the Telegram messenger app. The video’s authenticity and details of the incident could not be independently verified. Ukrainian intelligence officials have attempted to portray the incident as evidence of Russian divisions. “This is a sign that Russia can no longer function normally and this leads to internal destruction,” Andriy Cherniak, a representative for Ukrainian military intelligence said in a phone interview
During a televised meeting with officials, Mr. Putin accused the saboteurs of opening fire on civilians and children, a claim that could not be independently verified.
Mr. Putin was closely monitoring developments in the Bryansk region, Kremlin spokesman, Dmitri S. Peskov, told reporters. He added that Mr. Putin was receiving regular reports from officials in Bryansk.
Oleksiy Danilov, the head of the Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council, said in a statement on Thursday that Moscow was facing “a movement of Russian anti-fascist militias.”