Dozen of Russian armoured vehicles and 40,000 troops near the border with Ukraine 1506142

Posted On
a

Defence & Security News - Ukraine
 
 
Friday, August 15, 2014 11:25 AM
 
Dozen of Russian armoured vehicles and 40,000 troops near the border with Ukraine.
Dozens of heavy Russian military vehicles massed on Friday, August 15, 2014, near the border with Ukraine, while Ukrainian border guards crossed the frontier to inspect a huge Russian aid convoy. The convoy is still awaiting permission to take its cargo to cities held by pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine which have been wracked by violence.
     

Ukraine crisis map situation.
     
Russia says it is carrying 2,000 tonnes of water, baby food and other aid for people in east Ukraine, where pro-Moscow separatists are fighting government forces. Kiev and some Western officials have said they believe the convoy could be a cover for a Russian military incursion.

On Thursday, the convoy of some 280 trucks stopped in open fields near the Russian town of Kamensk-Shakhtinsky, about 20 km (12 miles) from the border with Ukraine.

It was still stationed there on Friday morning and a Reuters reporter at the scene saw a dozen armored personnel carriers (APCs) on the move not far from the convoy.

Kiev and NATO have said they fear Russia will invade east Ukraine after massing more than 40,000 troops near the border. Russia says it is conducting military exercises and has no plans to invade.

NATO has made clear it will not use force to support Ukraine, which is not an alliance member. At the same time it has warned Russia, which has mobilized 40,000 troops just across the border, against military intervention in eastern Ukraine under the guise of a humanitarian or peacekeeping operation.