MOSCOW, 22 February 2022, (TON): Russia's military said on Monday Ukrainian military saboteurs had tried to enter Russian territory in armed vehicles, an accusation dismissed as fake news by Kyiv amid Western accusations that Moscow could fabricate a pretext to invade.

The Russian military said five people had been killed when the Ukrainian saboteurs were thwarted. Ukraine and its Western allies have been saying for days that Moscow could manufacture a pretext to invade Ukraine with a huge force it has massed on the border.

Western countries accuse Russia of planning to invade a neighbour that it had controlled until the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991.

Moscow denies planning any attack but has demanded sweeping security guarantees, including a promise that Ukraine will never join NATO.

Hours earlier, French President Emmanuel Macron said Russian President Vladimir Putin and his U.S. counterpart Joe Biden had agreed in principle on a meeting.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said “a call or meeting between Putin and Biden could be set up at any time, but there were no concrete plans yet for a summit. Tensions were growing, he said, but a foreign ministers' meeting was possible this week.”

Satellite imagery released at the weekend appeared to show Russian deployments closer to Ukraine's border than before.