Russia admits its troops crossed over into Ukraine – Regina Leader
Russia’s government was forced to admit Tuesday for the first time that regular troops had entered eastern Ukraine, in a dramatic incident that appeared to confirm Kyiv’s accusations of direct Russian involvement in the civil war in the east of the country.
Ten Russian paratroopers who were captured in Ukraine on Monday crossed the border “accidentally” during a routine frontier patrol, Russia’s ministry of defence claimed.
The admission came as Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko met face-to-face for the first time since June, and overshadowed talks which some had hoped would hasten an end to the conflict.
Following the summit in Minsk, Poroshenko said he had support for a peace plan from leaders who attended, including Putin and the leaders of Belarus and Kazakhstan, the Interfax news agency reported.
There were no indications, however, that it would mean an immediate end to the fighting in eastern Ukraine between pro-Russia separatists and Ukrainian forces in which about 2,000 civilians and more than 700 Ukrainian troops have died.
Putin said separately he had an “overall positive assessment” of Tuesday’s meetings. Putin told reporters there was no discussion of a ceasefire in Ukraine because Russia is not a party to the conflict. Moscow is accused by Kyiv and the West of arming and supporting the rebels – a charge the Kremlin denies.
Shortly after Poroshenko took office in June, he released a peace plan for the conflict that included an amnesty for those not accused of serious crimes and called for some decentralization of power to the region.
“The logic of this peaceful plan was finally supported by all, without exclusion, of the heads of state,” Interfax quoted him as saying.
Getting the rebels to accept the plan, however, would be a key issue, and Russia appears either unable or unwilling to exert influence on the separatists to end their fight.