Fog of war is at its thickest right now. Honestly I have no idea what to believe anymore. I've heard about a million "Russia plans to do X false flag operation" announcements in the last couple of weeks, all of which would be largely to the detriment of Russia, both in terms of causing it damage directly, as well as by giving ample provocation to its enemies (and even its 'friends') to justify any retaliation thinkab…
This entire war is to the demerit of Russia. And they've already executed several false flags in the lead up to the war. They were minor, and obvious, but they happened none the less. (Blowing up a truck that had the license plates of the leader of one of the separatist states swapped on to it, for example.)