MOSCOW, May 24. /TASS/. Russia’s Defense Ministry will continue to swiftly and severely react to Kiev’s actions such as a terror attack against Russian civilians in the Belgorod Region, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said on Wednesday.

He reiterated that on May 22, a unit of a Ukrainian nationalist formation infiltrated Russian territory in the vicinity of the Kozinka border checkpoint in the Belgorod Region. During a counterterror operation, the Ukrainian nationalist formations were blocked and wiped out.

"The remaining nationalists were pushed back to Ukraine where strikes on them continued until complete elimination. Over 70 Ukrainian terrorists have been wiped out as well as automotive and armored equipment. We will continue to respond to such actions by Ukrainian militants in a swift and extremely severe way," Shoigu said at the Defense Ministry’s board meeting.

As the Russian military agency reported on Tuesday, the incursion of the Ukrainian sabotage group was preceded by intensive artillery bombardments of the Kozinka checkpoint and several other civilian facilities in the Grayvoronsky District of the Belgorod Region. It added that, after failing in Artyomovsk, the Kiev regime switched to plotting terror attacks against civilians.