A column of Russian tanks and armoured vehicle has crossed into southeastern Ukraine 26080141

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Defence & Security News - Ukraine

 
 
Tuesday, August 26, 2014 06:55 PM
 
A column of Russian tanks and armoured vehicle has crossed into southeastern Ukraine.
According an Ukrainian official, Monday, August 25, 2014, a column of Russian tanks and armoured vehicles has crossed into southeastern Ukraine, away from where most of the intense fighting has been taking place.
     
According an Ukrainian official, Monday, August 25, 2014, a column of Russian tanks and armoured vehicles has crossed into southeastern Ukraine, away from where most of the intense fighting has been taking place
Russian soldiers with T-90 main battle tank near the Ukraine border on Saturday, August 23, 2014.
     
Col. Andriy Lysenko, a spokesman for Ukraine's National Security Council, told reporters that the column of 10 tanks, two armored vehicles and two trucks crossed the border near Shcherbak and that the nearby city of Novoazovsk was shelled during the night from Russia.

On Tuesday, in a continuation of the pattern, Kiev said it had captured a group of Russian soldiers who had entered Ukraine on a "special mission", while Moscow said they were there by mistake.

A Ukrainian national guard unit stationed on the outskirts of Novoazovsk, on the road towards the Novoazovsk-Veselo-Voznesenka border crossing, showed a Reuters reporter a crater left by an exploding munition near their position.

They said the artillery fire was coming from over the border inside Russia, about 10 km (six miles) to the east.

"There were about 500 salvos from Grad (multiple rocket system) and mortars. There have been and are no rebels here whatsoever. They're just firing straight from Russia," Roman, the commander of a Ukrainian national guard unit, said on Sunday, before the armored column appeared in the same area.

Russia said it wants to send a second convoy of what it calls humanitarian aid into Ukraine in the coming days, while Kiev accused Moscow of moving tanks across the border, further damping hopes for peace talks between the Ukrainian and Russian presidents set for Tuesday in Minsk.