Ukrainian border guards stand at a checkpoint from territory controlled by Russia-backed separatists. /AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka

Russian forces have reportedly killed five 'saboteurs' who breached the country's southwest border with Ukraine, Monday. Kyiv dismissed the reports as fake news.

The accusations escalated already soaring tensions over a Russian military buildup. Kyiv and the West fear that a border incident near eastern Ukraine could be a pretext for a Russian attack on its neighbor.

Russia has consistently denied it has any intention to attack Ukraine.

Russia's Southern Military District report stated that a Federal Security Service border patrol identified a sabotage and reconnaissance group, which had breached the border in the Rostov region, prompting it to call troops for backup. A clash ensued, it said.

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"Two Ukrainian army infantry fighting vehicles crossed the state border into the Russian Federation to evacuate the sabotage group from the territory of Ukraine," it said.

"As a result of the engagement, five members of the sabotage and reconnaissance group who violated the Russian border were eliminated," it said.

The group was detected near the village of Mityanskaya in Russia's Rostov region, it said, adding that there were no casualties on the Russian side.

Ukraine dismissed the account as false information.

"Another fake. We don't have people there, nor could they be (there)," Ukraine's military said.