UKRAINIAN “saboteurs” were foiled in an attempt to penetrate the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) today, it said, as a mass evacuation of citizens from the Donbass region began.

Similar operations  were also uncovered in Lugansk, separatist officials said, reporting lethal outbreaks of fighting on the line of control.

Units of Ukrainian soldiers were confronted by separatist militia in Donetsk, according to deputy military commander Eduard Basarin.

“Our defenders were forced to open fire. The enemy suffered at least two losses and three wounded, and was forced to retreat,” he said.

Ukrainian forces were also in three areas in Lugansk: Stanitsa Luganskaya, Shchastya and Krymsky, officials there said.

Television crews from CNN and NBC were also said to be alongside the saboteurs, prompting fears of a potential “false flag” operation.

DPR intelligence reports claim to have uncovered plans by the Ukrainian army to launch an offensive “to gain a foothold on the Azov shore of the DPR and attack our troops from the rear.”

As shelling intensified, the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics began evacuating their citizens yesterday.

“From today, February 18, a mass centralised departure of the population to the Russian Federation has been organised.

“First of all, women, children and the elderly are subject to evacuation,” DPR Prime Minister Denis Pushilin said.

Nato, Britain and the US continue to assert that a Russian invasion is imminent, despite Wednesday passing without incident, the day a reputed incursion was supposed to take place. 

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that a military invasion was expected “in the coming days” in an address to the UN yesterday.

He claimed that Russia plans to manufacture a pretext for an attack on its neighbour that could include a fake or real assault using chemical weapons.

Mr Blinken failed to offer any concrete evidence to back his assertions, and Czech President Milos Zeman poured scorn on Washington’s claims.

“The Russians aren’t crazy. There will be no invasion of Ukraine,” he said.

“This is one of three CIA lies, the others being WMDs in Iraq and the claim that the Taliban will never take Kabul.

“I received word that the attack would begin in five days,” he added. “The news came from the US, five days ago. Well, as you can see, it didn’t happen.”