Russia aid trucks 'leaving Ukraine'

Some of the trucks in a Russian aid convoy which entered Ukraine in a move denounced by Kiev as an invasion are reported to be returning to Russia.

Russia aid trucks 'leaving Ukraine'

Some of the trucks in a Russian aid convoy which entered Ukraine in a move denounced by Kiev as an invasion are reported to be returning to Russia.

An Associated Press reporter saw four of the lorries waiting at the border crossing in the Russian town of Donetsk this morning. It could not be determined if the trucks were carrying any cargo.

The convoy of some 260 trucks drove into Ukraine yesterday, headed for Luhansk, a city in eastern Ukraine hard-hit by weeks of fighting between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian rebels.

Russia said the vehicles were carrying food, water, generators and sleeping bags but the Ukrainian government and Western countries said they suspected the convoy could be used by Russia to smuggle supplies and reinforcements for rebel fighters.

Ukraine called it a “direct invasion” and the US and Nato also condemned it.

Nato Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Russia had committed “a blatant breach” of its international commitments and “a further violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty”.

The Pentagon demanded Russia withdraw the convoy immediately, warning: “Failure to do so will result in additional costs and isolation.”

The White House said President Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke and said the presence of Russian troops in Ukraine represents a dangerous escalation of tensions by Moscow.

In another ominous turn in the crisis, Nato said it has mounting evidence that Russian troops are operating inside Ukraine and launching artillery attacks from Ukrainian soil – significantly deeper involvement in the fighting than the West has previously alleged.

Nato spokeswoman Oana Lungescu said that, since mid-August, the military alliance has seen multiple reports of direct involvement of Russian forces in Ukraine, along with transfers of tanks and other heavy weapons to the separatists, and “an alarming build-up of Russian ground and air forces in the vicinity of Ukraine”.

“Russian artillery support – both cross-border and from within Ukraine – is being employed against the Ukrainian armed forces,” she said. Previously, the West accused Russia of cross-border shelling only.

The Red Cross, which had planned to escort the convoy to assuage fears that it was a cover for a Russian invasion, said it had not received enough security guarantees to do so, as shelling had continued overnight.

Four troops were killed and 23 wounded in a 24-hour period in eastern Ukraine, the government reported.

The government said it had authorised the entry of only 35 trucks. But the number of Russian vehicles seen passing through was clearly way beyond that.

International monitors said at least 134 trucks, 12 support vehicles and one ambulance had crossed into Ukraine.

In announcing its decision to act, the Russian foreign ministry said: “There is increasingly a sense that the Ukrainian leaders are deliberately dragging out the delivery of the humanitarian load until there is a situation in which there will no longer be anyone left to help.”

Rebel forces took advantage of Ukraine’s promise not to shell the convoy to drive on the same country road as the trucks.

Some 20 green military supply vehicles – flatbed trucks and fuel tankers – were seen travelling in the opposite direction, along with smaller rebel vehicles.

The fighting in eastern Ukraine began in mid-April, a month after Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula.

It has killed more than 2,000 people and forced 340,000 to flee, according to the UN.

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