Ukraine accuses Russia of sending in tanks, armor
Ukraine accuses Russia of sending in tanks, armor
Dutch Brigadier-General Nico Tak, Director of the Comprehensive Crisis and Operations Management Centre at SHAPE (Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe) speaks during a media conference at SHAPE headquarters in Mons, Belgium on Thursday, Aug. 28, 2014. A top NATO official said on Thursday that at least 1,000 Russian troops have poured into Ukraine with sophisticated equipment. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko cancelled a trip to Turkey on Thursday and called an emergency meeting of his security council. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)
Ukraine accuses Russia of sending in tanks, armor
President Barack Obama listens in the James Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House in Washington, Thursday, Aug. 28, 2014, where he spoke about the economy, Iraq, and Ukraine, before convening a meeting with his national security team on the militant threat in Syria and Iraq. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Ukraine accuses Russia of sending in tanks, armor
President Barack Obama gestures in the James Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House in Washington, Thursday, Aug. 28, 2014, where he spoke about the economy, Iraq, and Ukraine, before convening a meeting with his national security team on the militant threat in Syria and Iraq. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Ukraine accuses Russia of sending in tanks, armor
This Aug. 23, 2014 satellite image made by DigitalGlobe and annotated by NATO shows what the military alliance says are Russian self-propelled artillery units near Krasnodon, Ukraine, inside territory controlled by Russian separatists. On Thursday, Aug. 28, 2014, senior NATO official, Brig. Gen. Nico Tak, said at least 1,000 Russian troops have poured into Ukraine with sophisticated equipment, leaving no doubt that the Russian military had invaded southeastern Ukraine. (AP Photo/NATO, DigitalGlobe)
Ukraine accuses Russia of sending in tanks, armor
Ukrainian forces guard a checkpoint in the town of Mariupol, eastern Ukraine, Thursday, Aug. 28, 2014. Ukraine’s president Petro Poroshenko called an emergency meeting of the nation’s security council and canceled a foreign trip Thursday, declaring that “Russian forces have entered Ukraine,” as concerns grew about the opening of a new front in the conflict. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)
Ukraine accuses Russia of sending in tanks, armor
This combination of June 19, 2014 and Aug. 20, 2014 satellite images made by DigitalGlobe and annotated by NATO shows what the military alliance says are battle tanks, armored personnel carriers and tented accommodations in an area that was mostly empty two months earlier in the Rostov area of Russia near the border with eastern Ukraine. On Thursday, Aug. 28, 2014, senior NATO official, Brig. Gen. Nico Tak, said, “Over the past two weeks we have noted a significant escalation in both the level and sophistication of Russia’s military interference in Ukraine” He said the 1,000 Russian troops who have entered Ukraine was a conservative estimate and said another 20,000 Russian troops were right over the border. (AP Photo/NATO, DigitalGlobe)
Ukraine accuses Russia of sending in tanks, armor
Ukrainian forces guard a checkpoint in the town of Mariupol, eastern Ukraine, Thursday, Aug. 28, 2014. Ukraine’s president Petro Poroshenko called an emergency meeting of the nation’s security council and canceled a foreign trip Thursday, declaring that “Russian forces have entered Ukraine,” as concerns grew about the opening of a new front in the conflict. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)
Ukraine accuses Russia of sending in tanks, armor
In this photo taken Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2014, local residents stand near the building where they live after a shelling in Donetsk, eastern Ukraine. Two columns of Russian tanks and military vehicles fired Grad missiles at a border post in southeastern Ukraine, then rolled into the country Thursday as Ukraine’s overmatched border guards fled, a top Ukrainian official said. (AP Photo/Antoine E.R. Delaunay)
Ukraine accuses Russia of sending in tanks, armor
Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko makes a statement, at Boryspil airport in Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, Aug. 28, 2014. Poroshenko canceled his visit to Turkey on Thursday due to a “sharp escalation of the situation in the Donetsk region, particularly in Amvrosiivka and Starobeshevo, as Russian forces have entered Ukraine,” he said in the statement. (AP Photo/Mikhail Palinchak)
Posted: Thursday, August 28, 2014 5:17 pm
|
NOVOAZOVSK, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine accused Russia on Thursday of entering its territory with tanks, artillery and troops, and Western powers said Moscow had “outright lied” about its role and dangerously escalated the conflict.
Russia dismissed the allegations, describing the fighters there as “Russian volunteers.” The Kremlin has repeatedly denied arming and supporting the separatists who have been fighting Ukrainian troops for four months in the gravest crisis between Russia and the West since the end of the Cold War.
Subscription Required
Have an online subscription?
Need an online subscription?
Login
Need an account? Create one now.
You must login to view the full content on this page.
NATO said at least 1,000 Russian troops are in Ukraine and later released what it said were satellite photos of Russian self-propelled artillery units moving last week.
Two columns of tanks and other equipment entered southeastern Ukraine at midday, following heavy shelling of the area from Russia that forced overmatched Ukrainian border guards to flee, said Col. Andriy Lysenko, a spokesman for Ukraine’s national security council.
“Russian forces have entered Ukraine,” President Petro Poroshenko said in Kyiv, canceling a foreign trip and calling an emergency meeting of his security council.
He urged Ukrainians to remain calm.
“Destabilization of the situation and panic, this is as much of a weapon of the enemy as tanks,” Poroshenko told the council.
U.S. President Barack Obama spoke with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and both leaders agreed Russia must face consequences for its actions.
“We agree — if there was ever any doubt — that Russia is responsible for the violence in eastern Ukraine,” Obama said. “The violence is encouraged by Russia. The separatists are trained by Russia, they are armed by Russia, they are funded by Russia.”
He added that Russia “has deliberately and repeatedly violated the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, and the new images of Russian forces inside Ukraine make that plain for the world to see.”
But Obama ruled out a military confrontation between the U.S. and Russia. He said Russia’s activity in Ukraine would incur “more costs and consequences,” though these seemed to be limited to economic pressure that will be discussed when Obama meets with European leaders at a NATO summit in Wales next week.
At an emergency session of the U.N. Security Council, Western representatives expressed outrage.
“Now we see irrefutable evidence of regular Russian forces operating inside Ukraine,” said British Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant.
U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power said Russia “has manipulated. It has obfuscated. It has outright lied.”
Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin offered a spirited defense, saying Kyiv “is waging war against its own people.”
He did deny not the Russian presence, saying “there are Russian volunteers in eastern parts of Ukraine. No one is hiding that.”
But Power countered: “A Russian soldier who chooses to fight in Ukraine on summer break is still a Russian soldier.”
Churkin questioned the presence of Western advisers and asked where Ukrainian troops were getting weapons. He said he wanted to “send a message to Washington: Stop interfering in the internal affairs of sovereign states.”
Russian stock markets fell as Switzerland joined the European Union in imposing restrictions on Russian state banks and fears grew that the U.S. and EU could impose more sanctions on Russian businesses and individuals in response to the military escalation. Russia’s MICEX index dropped nearly 2 percent on Thursday, and major Russian state banks VTB and Sberbank dropped more than 4 percent.
The strategic southeastern town of Novoazovsk, which has come under shelling for three days, appeared to be in the control of separatists, creating a third front in the war. That raised fears they want to create a land link between Russia and the Crimea Peninsula, which Moscow annexed from Ukraine in March. The town lies along a road connecting the peninsula to Russia.
Lysenko said the missiles from Russia were fired at Ukrainian positions about 11 a.m. About 90 minutes later, two columns, including tanks and other fighting vehicles, began an attack, entering Ukraine from Veselo-Voznesenka and Maximovo in the Rostov region of Russia, he said.
A senior NATO official said the estimate of 1,000 Russian troops in Ukraine was a conservative one, adding that another 20,000 Russian troops were right over the border. The troops who entered Ukraine had sophisticated equipment, he said.
“The hand from behind is becoming more and more overt now,” Brig. Gen. Nico Tak said at NATO’s military headquarters.
Russia’s ultimate aim was to stave off defeat for the separatists and turn eastern Ukraine into a “frozen conflict” that would destabilize the country indefinitely, he said.
© 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Have an online subscription?
Need an online subscription?
Login
Need an account? Create one now.
More about General News
Ukraine accuses Russia of sending in tanks, armor
Ukraine accuses Russia of sending in tanks, armor
Ukraine accuses Russia of sending in tanks, armor
Ukraine accuses Russia of sending in tanks, armor
More about Government And Politics
- Ukraine accuses Russia of sending in tanks, armor
- Ukraine accuses Russia of sending in tanks, armor
- Ukraine accuses Russia of sending in tanks, armor
- Ukraine accuses Russia of sending in tanks, armor
More about International Incidents
- Ukraine accuses Russia of sending in tanks, armor
- Ukraine accuses Russia of sending in tanks, armor
- Ukraine accuses Russia of sending in tanks, armor
- Ukraine accuses Russia of sending in tanks, armor
Posted in
Usworld
on
Thursday, August 28, 2014 5:17 pm.
| Tags: