Kiev, West accuse Russia of incursion

Moscow denies arming rebels or sending soldiers across border

Ukraine and the West have accused Russia of launching a new incursion into Ukraine's eastern region, after a meeting between Russian and Ukrainian leaders on Tuesday made no breakthrough in the months-long crisis.

Russia denies intervening in Ukraine by arming the rebels or sending soldiers across the border.

"The Russian authorities clearly said many times there are no regular Russian troops there. Russia is not taking part in this armed conflict," said a Russian diplomatic source.

President Petro Poroshenko announced in a statement published online that he was canceling a visit to Turkey for the inauguration of newly elected President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and calling a snap session of Ukraine's security council.

"I have decided to cancel my visit to Turkey because of the sharp escalation of the situation in the Donetsk region, ... as Russian forces have entered Ukraine," he said. "Today, the president's place is in Kiev."

Ukrainian military spokesman Andriy Lysenko said on Wednesday that a group of Russian soldiers had crossed the border in armored infantry carriers and a truck and entered the town of Amvrosiyivka, not far from where Ukraine detained 10 Russian soldiers on Monday.

Ukraine's State Security Service also said in a statement that it had detained another Russian soldier in the east of the country who has confessed his unit provided military support to separatist rebels.

"These incursions indicate a Russian-directed counteroffensive is likely underway in Donetsk and Lugansk," US State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Wednesday.

Sophisticated weapons

Psaki also said that Washington has noted "the Russian government's unwillingness to tell the truth even as its soldiers are found 30 miles (48 km) inside Ukraine."

In a telephone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel demanded an explanation for a new Russian military incursion into Ukrainian territory, said Merkel's spokesman, Steffen Seibert.

A senior NATO diplomat told reporters on condition of anonymity that Russian support for the separatists was becoming increasingly obvious.

The diplomat said sophisticated weapon systems were found in the area, including the SA-22 surface-to-air missile, which is more advanced than the SA-11 system that was said to have shot down Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 on July 17, killing all 298 people on board.

On Monday, the Ukrainian State Security Service claimed to have seized servicemen from Russia's regular army and published a video footage on its Facebook page, showing people dressed in military camouflage.

Russia's RIA Novosti news agency cited a source in the Russian Defense Ministry as saying that those captured servicemen were involved in patrolling the Russian-Ukrainian border area and "most likely crossed border by accident".

Secret talks denied

Moscow also denies reports that it held secret negotiations with the US over the Ukraine crisis in Finland in June.

"We admit the Russian and US experts have actually met in late June at the Finnish island of Boisto. Those were not the state official consultations but just a contact between Russian and US non-government structures and academic communities," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.

The conflict between government troops and pro-independence militia has killed more than 2,000 people in eastern and southeastern Ukraine, with hundreds of thousands of others displaced.

Xinhua - Reuters - AFP

Ukrainian soldiers park their hardware on the roadside as they wait for the start of the march into the town of Mariupol, Ukraine, on Wednesday, after rebel forces reportedly entered a key town in southeastern Ukraine. Sergei Grits / Associated Press

(China Daily 08/29/2014 page11)