MOSCOW, July 4 (RAPSI) - A criminal case has been opened in Russia following a Ukrainian attack on the Novoshakhtinsk customs checkpoint in the Rostov Region, Investigative Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin said Friday.

The Rostov Region Border Department of the Federal Security Service reported that as a result of cross border shooting at the Dolzhansky checkpoint in Ukraine, several explosives were detonated near the Novoshakhtinsk customs checkpoint. The Investigative Committee opened a case on the attempted murder of two or more people by an organized group by means dangerous for the general public.

As a result of this unlawful activity, a shell crater was found in the road near the inspection area and the bus station at the Novoshakhtinsk customs checkpoint. Also, shrapnel damage was discovered on buildings and other items at the checkpoint, with fragments scattered between 30 and 200 meters away. This evidence indicates the intention of the attackers which was allegedly to kill Russian citizens at the checkpoint,” the report says.

The Kiev government launched a military operation in mid-April to suppress the anti-Maidan movement in eastern Ukraine, which did not recognize the legitimacy of the February coup in Kiev. Moscow urged Kiev to stop the “punitive military operation,” which has claimed many lives on both sides, including innocent civilians.