Russian MoD Plans Strikes on Ukrainian Intelligence, Military Info Warfare Relay Facilities in Kiev

Russian forces began concentrating near the Ukrainian capital from the first days of the operation, with troops and armoured formations backed by army aviation seen operating on the outskirts of the city Monday.

The Russian ministry of defence has announced plans to carry out precision strikes against Ukrainian Intelligence Service (SBU) and military information warfare facilities, and has warned employees and civilians in the affected areas to leave their homes to avoid casualties.

"We call on Ukrainian citizens lured by Ukrainian nationalists to carry out provocations against Russia, as well as residents of Kiev living near relay nodes, to leave their homes," the MoD said in a statement Tuesday ahead of the strikes.

The attacks are expected to target SBU operational and communications facilities, as well as the 72nd Center for Information and Psychological Operations of the Special Operations Force of Ukraine, according to the Russian military.

These facilities have been used to carry out informational attacks against Russian state institutions, including to send out death threats and to report the planting of bombs in Russian schools, train stations and other social infrastructure, the MoD said. The military said informational attacks have spiked dramatically in recent days in connection with the Russian military operation in Ukraine.

Russian authorities have long suspected informational attacks of this nature coming from Ukraine since the 2014 Western-backed coup in Kiev - with the threats, bomb scares and fakes tying up Russian emergency services, causing chaos in government administration and educational institutions, and costing businesses lost revenues.

The long-running security crisis in Ukraine collapsed into a full-blown conflagration between Russian and Donbass forces on one side and the Ukrainian army and ultra-nationalist formations on the other last week. The Russian military and the Donetsk and Lugansk people's militias launched what President Putin characterized as a "special military operation" Thursday to "demilitarise" Ukraine following the dramatic ramping up of artillery, mortar, sniper and sabotage attacks by Kiev forces in the Donbass throughout the month of February. The US and its allies framed the operation as an out of the blue, unprovoked "invasion" and slapped Russia with new sanctions. The West also promised to send Kiev an additional $850+ million in military aid.