Ukraine crisis: Video shows Russia sending tanks, rocket launchers into …

Russia has sent tanks, heavy weapons and rocket launchers to Ukraine in recent days in support of separatists in the east of the country, the United States says.

Internet video showed tanks, which were spotted at a deployment site in south-west Russia, moving through multiple cities in eastern Ukraine, US state department spokeswoman Marie Harf said.

“We assess that separatists in eastern Ukraine have acquired heavy weapons and military equipment from Russia, including Russian tanks and multiple rocket launchers,” she said in a statement.

She said the US had “information that Russia has accumulated tanks of a type no longer used by Russian forces”.

Ms Harf told a briefing earlier that a convoy of “three T-64 tanks, several BM-21 or Grad multiple rocket launchers and other military vehicles” had “crossed from Russia into Ukraine” in the last three days.

“This is unacceptable,” she said.

“A failure by Russia to deescalate the situation will lead to additional costs.”

The United States and European allies have threatened broader sanctions against Russia unless Moscow stops assisting rebels in eastern Ukraine.

Ukraine alleged on Thursday that three tanks had crossed from Russia into its territory, underscoring the growing tensions between Kyiv and Moscow.

Moscow has denied the allegation, earlier raised by Ukrainian interior minister Arsen Avakov, who stopped short of accusing Russia of being behind the reported incursion.

“Russia will claim these tanks were taken from Ukrainian forces, but no Ukrainian tank unit has been operating in that area,” Ms Harf said.

“We are confident that these tanks came from Russia.”

She said multiple rocket launchers, which were at the same deployment site in south-west Russia, were seen traveling through the Ukrainian city of Luhansk.

Russia has earlier alleged that two Ukrainian tanks crossed the border into its territory before being intercepted by the border patrol.

Ukraine’s new president, Petro Poroshenko, told his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin that the reported crossing of three tanks into his country’s separatist east was “unacceptable”.

Ms Harf said US secretary of state John Kerry had also raised concerns with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov.

AFP/Reuters

Gallery:
Ukraine crisis photos: editor’s choice

Open bundled references in tabs: