- Ukraine military intelligence is warning about a possible Russian "false flag" attack in Crimea.
- On Facebook, it warned the attack could occur at a chemicals plant.
- Ukraine cited intelligence that all employees had been evacuated from the facility.
Ukraine's military intelligence unit claimed Wednesday that employees had been evacuated from a chemicals plant in Russian-occupied Crimea ahead of a possible "terrorist attack" that would be falsely blamed on Kyiv.
In a post on Facebook, the Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine said it had collected intelligence showing that "all employees" had been forced to leave the Titan chemicals plant in Armiansk, Crimea. The purpose, the post said, might be to accuse Ukraine of carrying out an attack on the facility — providing a justification for war.
"We officially declare that Ukraine has not planned and does not plan any act of sabotage at this facility," the post said.
Russia has more than 150,000 troops stationed along Ukraine's borders, with Russian-backed separatists in the east of the country on Wednesday formally requesting military intervention. The US and other allies of Ukraine have repeatedly accused of Russia of planning "false flag" attacks in order to portray an invasion as defensive in nature.
Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine's foreign minister, said the evacuation of the Crimea chemicals plant could be part of that effort.
"This might be a preparation for another staged provocation by Russia," he wrote on Twitter. "Moscow seems to have no limits in attempts to falsify pretexts for further aggression."