Russian troops are strengthening their positions in eastern Ukraine
and using aid shipments to smuggle in arms and other supplies to
separatist forces, Kiev’s military said on Tuesday.
Military spokesman Andriy Lysenko said units of Russian troops
had been identified in the big regional center of Donetsk, towns
and villages to its east and in south-east areas near the Sea of
Azov, Reuters reports.
Fifteen more Ukrainian servicemen were killed in fighting in the
past 24 hours, Lysenko said.
President Petro Poroshenko accused Russia on Monday of “direct
and undisguised aggression” in Kiev’s five-month war against pro-
Russian separatists. He acknowledged the Russian troops had
tipped the battlefield balance in favor of the rebels.
Despite the accusations from Kiev and its Western allies, Moscow
denies its troops are directly involved.
Military reverses which Kiev blames on Moscow’s military
intervention include the loss of Novoazovsk, a key town on the Sea
of Azov, and the encirclement of forces at Ilovaysk, east of
Ukraine’s military on Monday also abandoned control of the main
civilian airport near the city of Luhansk, where it said its forces
had confronted a Russian tank battalion.
Lysenko said Russian trucks, painted white, were now being used to
deliver arms to the rebels.
“Last night four white trucks came … and after an hour went back
again. It’s not the first time that white trucks have unlawfully
crossed the border accompanied by off-road vehicles and guards,”
he told journalists.
The loss of Novoazovsk could open a way for the rebels to the
major port city of Mariupol, further west along the Sea of Azov
A Reuters reporter there on Tuesday did not hear or see any signs
of battle from the city, where Ukrainian forces have been digging
defensive trenches for the past few days.
But Lysenko said the separatists had suffered losses, and had
withdrawn, after clashing on Monday night with Ukrainian forces
near Bezimenne, which lies between Novoazovsk and Mariupol.
Concern continued to be voiced in Kiev over Ukrainian troops
apparently encircled by Russian-backed forces in the Ilovaysk area,
east of Donetsk.
Kiev’s military have clamped a news black-out on information
about what is going on there, to avoid endangering a withdrawal of
forces there.
