specifically in the donbas region. the u.s. thinks this is likely a false flag attack being carried out by russia, right? reporter: yeah. we ve talked about russia s hybrid warfare. not just what they re doing with their military, not just what they re doing in terms of cyber which as we know, the white house just said this week s attacks they did attribute to the gru. but it this incredible disinformation campaign that they ve been engaged in that got kicked into a higher gear today. there are these two regions in eastern ukraine. the breakaway enclaves. they call themselves republic that s have been out of the reach of kyiv for the last eight years and backed by russia. the two leaders there simultaneously this evening said that they were calling on their citizens to evacuate to russia, to head east edwards into russia. they said they wanted their populations to do that because they accused ukraine of mounting an operation along their border.