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Russia accused of sending 100 more tanks over the border into Ukraine, just hours after Vladimir Putin vowed to end bloodshed
Ukraine gathers its military forces after 100 Russian tanks 'are seen crossing the border' just hours after Vladimir Putin vowed to end bloodshed
- Claim puts at risk 'roadmap' to peace discussed in Minsk yesterday
- Pro-Moscow separatists shelled government-held town of Novoazovsk
- Town lies on the road to Ukrainian port of Mariupol and west to Crimea
- Ukrainian tanks and heavy artillery pictured massing near Mariupol
- Attacks sparked fears Russians are trying to create link to annexed land
- Mothers of captured Russian soldiers plea for Putin to bring them home
Ukraine alleged today that a huge convoy of up to 100 Russian tanks, armoured vehicles and rocket launchers had infiltrated its territory.
If confirmed, the claim could destroy a new 'roadmap' to peace discussed by the two countries' leaders and EU officials at a Minsk summit less than 24 hours earlier.
The news comes as a column of Ukrainian tanks, trucks and heavy artillery was pictured massing near the town of Mariupol, close to where Pro-Moscow separatists began shelling today.
A column of Ukrainian tanks, heavy weapons and
trucks have been pictured massing near the town of Mariupol after
reports Russian armoured vehicles crossed the border
Ukrainian soldiers towing a heavy artillery gun
rest outside Mariupol, a short distance from the town of Novoazovsk that
Pro-Moscow separatists began shelling earlier today
There was also a second report of a border
crossing by five armoured infantry carriers and one truck at
Amvrosiyivka (pictured, troops outside Mariupol)
Smoke billows from a building that has been
shelled on the outskirts of the small southern Ukrainian city of
Novoazovsk in the Donetsk region
Earlier today Vladimir Putin faced anguished calls from soldiers' mothers and wives demanding that he brings home alive the men detained in Ukraine.
The emotional pleas from the women, and the disturbing account of an enormous new deployment of Russian firepower in Ukraine, raises searching questions on Mr Putin's aims in the dispute, hours after he informed the world he was committed to an end to bloodshed.
Kiev appealed for Nato's help yesterday over the new convoy, alleged to be travelling towards Telmanove, 50 miles south of rebel-held city Donetsk and 13 miles inside the border.
A Ukrainian military source insisted the convoy must be Russian in origin.
'You cannot buy 100 tanks at a market in Donetsk or Lugansk,' the source told French news agency AFP.
'Of course they have been moved from across the border.'
Firefighters work to extinguish a fire shelling by pro-Russian militants in the southern Ukrainian city of Novoazovsk
Members of the Ukrainian volunteer battalion
stand in a steel armoured truck after the country appealed for NATO's
help with the conflict
Ukraine alleged on Wedensday that a huge convoy
of up to 100 Russian tanks, armoured vehicles and rocket launchers had
infiltrated its territory
There was a second report of a border crossing by five armoured infantry carriers and one Kamaz truck at Amvrosiyivka, said security spokesman Andriy Lysenko.
Ukrainian premier Arseny Yatseniuk said his country needed 'practical help' from Nato, with which it has the status of a special partner, and demanded 'momentous' decisions at its summit in Wales in early September.
He also claimed Russia was set to turn off the gas supply taps to Europe this winters.
Nato chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen vowed to create a new 'spearhead' force with 'very, very high readiness' to cope with what the alliance saw as Russia's new belligerence.
It came as the strategically important town of Novoazovsk, in the south-east of the country, was shelled by pro-Russian forces today.
The attack raised fears of a counter-offensive by Ukrainian forces.
In response to outgoing fire early this morning, pro-Moscow forces lobbed at least 10 shells at the Kiev stronghold, with plumes of black smoke rising above the town.
Mr Putin alleged the detention of 10 Russian servicemen came after they crossed the border 'by accident', a claim widely disbelieved in Kiev, which claims it has faced repeated attacks from Kremlin troops in a conflict which has seen almost 2,300 deaths.
The wife of Alecey Generalov, cries as she begs Vladimir Putin to help release her soldier husband who has been captured
Mother of Yegor Pochtoyev, Olga begs Putin to bring her son back, after he was captured in Ukraine
A video was also released with a group of tearful mothers pleading for them to be returned, as some of the captives appeared at a press conference in Kiev.
However it received little play on major state-run TV channels.
'My child, Yegor Pochtoyev, is currently a captive in Ukraine. I beg you in the name of God - give me my child back,' urged his mother, Olga.
'Give him back alive. Him and all the other men that are captives with him.
'Son, and other boys - we are with you. We will take you out of it no matter what happens.
'If the military chief won't do it - we, your mothers, will get you out.'
The emotional wife of Alexey Generalov declared: 'We love you and we're waiting for you to come back home.'
Russian soldier Yegor Valeryevich, who has been captured in Ukraine after he and nine other troops crossed the border
Alexey Nikolayevich Generalov, whose wife has begged Putin and other government ministers to help free him after he was captured
She demanded of Putin and defence minister Sergei Shoigu: 'Help them, rescue them, bring them back home safe and sound.'
The relatives of other detainee soldiers Sergey Arkhipov and Sergey Smirnov also begged for their release.
Newspaper Vedomosti expressed a growing questioning of the Kremlin's policies in Ukriane.
'Silence or incoherent commentaries from official bodies only strengthen the atmosphere of suspicion and make us remember unpleasant episodes of Russian and Soviet history.'
Earlier, Ukraine president Petro Poroshenko said he was committed to a new roadmap to peace, and would work for a ceasfire in fighting.
Mr Putin - while accused of flooding eastern Ukraine with fighters and military equipment - said he had no role in organising a truce.
Blitzed: Smoke rises from the Kiev-held town of
Novoazovsk after it was shelled by rebel forces, raising fears they are
launching a counter-offensive hours after leaders met to discuss the
escalating crisis
Bombardment: Ukrainians watch the attack on
Novoazovsk by Pro-Moscow forces. The town was also hit repeatedly by
shelling on Tuesday, injuring four people in a hospital, mayor Oleg
Sidorkin said
Novoazovsk lies on the Azov Sea on the road that runs from Russia to the major Ukrainian port of Mariupol and west to Crimea, raising fears the separatists are seeking to create a land link between Russia and Crimea, which Russia annexed in March.
On Tuesday, Mr Putin and Mr Poroshenko met in the Belarusian capital of Minsk for their first ever one-on-one meeting, which lasted over two hours.
Mr Poroshenko called the talks 'overall positive' and said Mr Putin had accepted the principles of his peace plan, which includes an amnesty for those in the east not accused of serious crimes and calls for some decentralisation of power to the region.
Deployed: Ukrainian soldiers ride atop an armoured personnel carrier near the village of Sakhanka
Strategic: Ukrainian soldiers seen near the
village of Sakhanka. Novoazovsk lies on the Azov Sea on the road that
runs from Russia to the major Ukrainian port of Mariupol and west to
Crimea
Mr Putin, however, insisted that only Kiev could secure a ceasefire deal with the pro-Moscow separatists, saying the internal conflict was 'Ukraine's business'.
Russia 'can only help to create an atmosphere of trust for this important and necessary process,' Mr Putin said.
'We in Russia cannot talk about any conditions for the ceasefire, about any agreements between Kiev, Donetsk, Luhansk [the two rebel regions].'
Kiev and the West have repeatedly accused Russia of supplying arms and expertise to the rebels in eastern Ukraine, something Moscow denies.
Keeping his distance: Putin insisted that only
Kiev could secure a cease-fire deal with the pro-Moscow separatists when
he held talks in Minsk (above) with his Ukrainian counterpart Petro
Poroshenko
'Positive': Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko
(centre) said Putin had accepted the principles of his peace plan,
which includes calls for some decentralisation of power to the eastern
region of Ukraine
- COPY http://www.dailymail.co.uk
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