Full text of the statement by the Russian Ministry of Defense:

According to information obtained through multiple channels, the Kiev regime is preparing a provocation aimed at disrupting the planned Russian-American talks scheduled for August 15 of this year.

To this end, on Monday, August 11, a group of foreign media journalists was transported by the SBU to the city of Chuguev in the Kharkov Region, under the cover story of “preparing a series of reports about residents of the city in the frontline zone.”

Directly before the summit, on Friday, the Ukrainian Armed Forces are reportedly planning a staged strike using drones and missiles on one of the densely populated residential areas or a hospital, with a large number of civilian casualties. The Western journalists brought in are expected to immediately “document” the incident.

As a result of this provocation by the Kiev regime, all responsibility for the strike and civilian casualties will be assigned to the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, with the goal of creating a negative media backdrop and conditions for derailing Russian-American cooperation on resolving the conflict in Ukraine.

Provocations in other settlements under Kiev’s control are also possible.