We’ve smashed Russia troop convoy, says Kiev
As tensions rise, Cameron urges Putin to look for peace
UKRAINE has destroyed the majority of a Russian military convoy which crossed over its border on Thursday night, the country’s president said yesterday.
Petro Poroshenko claimed his forces had attacked the column of farmoured personnel carriers and that most had been ‘eliminated’ – but warned Russian arms continue to flow in to rebel fighters. The Ukrainian president revealed details when he spoke on the phone to David Cameron, who called on Russia to show that it wanted a ‘peaceful resolution’.
A larger humanitarian convoy of hundreds of trucks is still in Western Russia, unable to cross the border. But yesterday it appeared it may have merely been a decoy to mask the incursion elsewhere on the border.
Mr Cameron last night expressed ‘grave concerns’ at a marked escalation in hostilities between the two countries.
The Russian ambassador to London was summoned to the Foreign Office to ‘clarify’ reports of a Russian military incursion and what officials called the ‘continued build-up of equipment on the border’.
Moscow denied its forces had entered Ukraine, and accused Kiev of trying to sabotage deliveries of aid. But Mr Poroshenko said the ‘given information was trustworthy and confirmed because the majority of the machines had been eliminated by the Ukrainian artillery at night’.
After Mr Cameron spoke to President Poroshenko, Downing Street released a statement sayi ng: ‘ The Prime Minister expressed grave concerns at reports of Russian military vehicles crossing the border.
‘Russia... must not use the aid convoy as a pretext for further provocation.
‘Both leaders also agreed on finding a political solution to deescalate the situation and the Prime Minister welcomed President Poroshenko’s readiness to
‘Grave concerns’
engage with Russia and other partners to achieve this.
‘Russia needs to demonstrate the same willingness to find a peaceful resolution.
A convoy of armoured vehicles with Russian military plates was seen crossing the border into eastern Ukraine on Thursday night, leading to fears it could mark the beginning of a full-scale incursion by Moscow.
As many as 23 armoured personnel carriers, along with fuel tankers and other logistics vehicles made the crossing under cover of darkness near the Russian town of Donetsk. Senior diplomats fear Vladimir Putin could try to use the growing humanitarian crisis in Ukraine as a pretext for invasion.
European leaders meeting in Brussels said any unilateral military action by Russia would be a ‘blatant violation of international law’ and said the EU was ready to consider further sanctions.
Speaking in Brussels, Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said he was ‘very alarmed’ at the reports.
He said: ‘ We would urge the Russians to withdraw any military personnel they have inside Ukraine and stop supporting the separatists. The situation is potentially very dangerous.’
Kiev and its Western allies have repeatedly accused Russia of arming pro-Moscow separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine. NATO Secretary- General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said: ‘It just confirms the fact that we see a continuous flow of weapons and fighters from Russia into eastern Ukraine and it is a clear demonstration of continued Russian involvement in the destabilisation of eastern Ukraine.’