Russia planning ‘False Flag attack’, says Ukraine

US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, said the events over the past 48 hours were part of Russian efforts to create "false provocations" to justify further "aggression".

New Delhi: Ukraine's military intelligence service said it had received information that explosives had been planted at infrastructure facilities in Donetsk in preparation for a so-called false flag attack, an assault carried out intending to blame an opponent for it.

"These measures are designed to destabilise the situation in the temporarily occupied areas of our country and create a reason to accuse Ukraine of committing terrorist acts," the Ukrainian Defence Ministry's Main Intelligence Directorate said on Twitter.

Earlier on Friday (February 18), separatist authorities said a parked jeep had been blown up near a government building in Donetsk. The US and Ukrainian officials said it was a staged attack designed to stoke tensions.

The term 'False Flag attack' was first used in the 16th Century to describe how pirates flew the flag of a friendly nation to deceive merchant ships into allowing them to draw near.

"False flag attacks have a long and ignoble history," says a BBC report. One such instance was in 1939. The night before Germany invaded Poland, seven German soldiers pretending to be Polish stormed the Gleiwitz radio tower on the German side of the border with Poland. They broadcast a short message to say that the station was 'now in Polish hands'.

US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, said the events over the past 48 hours were part of Russian efforts to create "false provocations" to justify further "aggression".

The US State Department later called the announcement of evacuations a "cynical" move by Moscow "to distract the world from the fact that Russia is building up its forces in preparation for an attack." White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the evacuations were an example of Moscow using 'misinformation' as a pretext for war.