Georgia’s acting prime minister has accused Ukraine of trying to spread war to his country after authorities seized what they said was a truck loaded with explosives bound for Russia. 

A clandestine shipment of explosives headed for Voronezh was hidden in a cargo of car batteries driven overland from Ukraine via Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey, claimed Georgia’s State Security Service.

In October 2022, Moscow claimed Ukraine had carried out an explosion on the Crimean bridge using explosives hidden in a truck.

“This once again confirms what, in principle, the high-ranking officials of the Ukrainian government openly said that they wanted and probably still want: a second front in our country,” Georgian Prime Minister-designate Irakli Kobakhidze said, in remarks reported by media outlet Interpressnews.

Mr Kobakhidze’s Georgian Dream party, which has ruled the country since 2013, is seen as having steered what was once one of the most pro-Western former Soviet states in a more pro-Russian direction.

Russia has troops stationed in two breakaway regions of Georgia and fought a brief war there in 2008. 

Ukraine’s embassy said it was looking into the allegations “regarding the involvement of Ukrainian citizens in illegal activities” and called on Georgia not to politicise the incident.