ROSTOV-ON-DON, July 09. /ITAR-TASS/. Russia’s Novoshakhtinsk multi-way border-crossing point to Ukraine, which was recently damaged as a result of shelling from the Ukrainian side, has been shown to 65 foreign journalists representing some 30 countries.

“Since the start of the conflict on the territory of Ukraine, Russian border guards have revealed no cases of transfer of weapons, ammunition and military hardware across the border,” a spokesman for the Russian Federal Security Service’s (FSB) Border Department in the Rostov Region, Leonid Smyk, said Wednesday.

He showed to journalists the buildings and areas of the border-crossing point damaged as a result of artillery shellings on July 3 and July 6-7: a water tower, a duty-free shop, an automotive inspection site and roads were damaged.

“It was the most popular checkpoint in the Rostov Region that let through up to 7,000 people and thousands of vehicles daily,” Smyk said.

The Novoshakhtinsk point has been out of operation since June 30 because there has been no activity on the Ukrainian side of the border.

Foreign media representatives arrived in the Rostov Region in southern Russia on an initiative of the association of foreign correspondents accredited in Moscow to clarify the situation in regions bordering Ukraine.

They will also inspect a temporary accommodation center in the Krasny Sulin District and the Donskoy health and recreation resort in the city of Novocherkassk.

The example of Crimea - a region that did not recognize the authorities imposed during a coup in Ukraine in February and seceded from the country to accede to Russia in March - apparently inspired residents of Ukraine’s Southeast, who supported the country’s federalization. The residents started massive protests and formed militias.

The Donetsk and Luhansk regions bordering Russia held referendums on May 11, in which most voters supported independence from Ukraine. South Ossetia has recognized the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic and the Luhansk People's Republic. No other countries have followed suit so far.

Since mid-April, Kiev has been conducting a military operation against federalization supporters in Ukraine's war-torn southeastern regions, which involves armored vehicles, heavy artillery and attack aviation.

Hundreds of people have died as a result, buildings have been destroyed and tens of thousands of people have been forced to flee Ukraine. After a brief ceasefire announced by President Petro Poroshenko on June 20 and terminated on June 30, military attacks of the pro-Kiev forces on the country’s southeastern regions resumed.