(Reuters) – Ukraine’s State Security Service (SBU) said on Monday that Russia was trying to falsely accuse Kyiv’s military of war crimes as Ukraine pressed on with a ground incursion into Russia’s Kursk region.

The SBU said on the Telegram platform that it had information showing Russia might stage crimes for which it would blame Ukraine.

On Monday, Alexei Smirnov, acting governor of the Kursk region, was quoted by Russian state media as saying that Ukrainian forces had used shells containing chemical weapons.

Reuters could not independently verify the claim.

Russian forces are struggling to repel Ukraine’s biggest border incursion in almost 2-1/2 years of full-scale war.

Smirnov said Ukraine had taken control of 28 settlements in the Kursk region, while Ukraine’s military had not commented on the operation by Monday evening.

(Reporting by Yuliia Dysa; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne and Kevin Liffey)