Russia proposed a cease-fire for humanitarian aid deliveries to war-torn parts of southeastern Ukraine as a convoy of aid trucks from Moscow waited near the border with rebel-held areas.
Even as Russia struck a conciliatory note, news outlets including Novoye Vremya and Hromadske TV reported seeing armored personnel vehicles crossing into Ukraine. The government in Kiev has been saying for months that the separatist rebels are receiving reinforcements from Russian territory. The government in Moscow has repeatedly denied any involvement in the unrest.
The dispute over the Russian convoy, which the leadership in Moscow says is carrying emergency supplies, has stoked tensions between the two countries and has prompted the U.S. and the European Union to warn Russia against using aid as a pretext for a military intervention. Russia says the supplies are needed to help citizens of Luhansk and Donetsk, where fighting has cut off water and power connections.
“The extremely difficult situation in southeastern Ukraine demands a cease-fire,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said on its website yesterday in its proposal to separatists and the Ukrainian government. The ministry said such a suspension was “necessary to guarantee the safety of the humanitarian operation.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose country has been under increasing international pressure for supporting separatists in Ukraine, pledged during a visit to Crimea that he would work to halt the conflict.
Border Crossing
Even so, a column of a “few dozen” APCs and other military vehicles crossed into Ukraine’s rebel-held territory from Russia last night, according to a correspondent with Novoye Vremya, or New Times, in the border region.
A call to Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Vladimir Anikin outside office hours went unanswered. Major General Igor Konashenkov, another spokesman for the ministry, declined to comment. Ukrainian authorities are checking the information, Vladyslav Seleznyov, a spokesman for the country’s military, told Interfax-Ukraine.
Crimea Peninsula
Putin, visiting the Crimea peninsula he annexed from Ukraine in March, said that Russia shouldn’t isolate itself and that he would try to stop the fighting that’s flared for months between pro-Russian separatists and government forces, killing more than 1,500 people, according to United Nations estimates. The U.S and the EU have slapped sanctions on Russian businesses and individuals, and Ukraine’s parliament passed a bill yesterday allowing similar measures.
“We will do all we can so this conflict comes to an end as soon as possible and the bloodshed in Ukraine comes to an end,” Putin said in a meeting with political leaders in the city of Yalta. “The situation is becoming more dramatic by the day. The country has immersed itself in bloody chaos, a fratricidal conflict.”
Putin and European Commission President Jose Barroso agreed by telephone yesterday to meet in person to discuss relations between Russia and the EU, the Kremlin said in an e-mailed statement. The time and place of the meeting have yet to be set.
Russia sent the convoy of about 280 trucks earlier this week. The government in Kiev says the aid distribution must be under the auspices of the International Committee of the Red Cross.
The Russian convoy turned west toward Ukraine at Kamensk-Shakhtinsky, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) by road from the border, the Associated Press reported. The trucks parked in a field, according to a BBC reporter following them.
Rostov Region
The international Red Cross said in a Twitter posting that the Russian convoy was in that country’s Rostov region and that “many practical details are still to be clarified.” Russian news media said the fleet of trucks was preparing to camp there.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov spoke with his Ukrainian counterpart, Pavlo Klimkin, by telephone yesterday, the ministry in Moscow said in a statement on its website. The two discussed the need to deliver humanitarian aid safely to affected areas, the ministry said.
Meanwhile, the government in Kiev sent its own convoys with supplies.
Three Ukrainian convoys left government-controlled areas yesterday for the Luhansk region, one of two where the army is encircling the rebels and where the fighting has cut water and power supplies.
Ruble Strengthened
The Micex Index increased 0.6 percent in Moscow yesterday, taking its five-day advance to 5.6 percent. The ruble strengthened to 35.9365 per dollar and the yield on 10-year Russiangovernment bonds declined seven basis points to 9.3 percent.
Ukraine’s currency, the hryvnia, gained 1.5 percent to 12.9500 per dollar.
Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the secretary general of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, on a trip to Norway said what is needed from Russia is action.
“We have seen a strong Russian hand in destabilizing eastern Ukraine,” Rasmussen said at a press conference in the southern town of Arendal. “We urge Russia to pull back its troops, to stop the flow of weapons and fighters across the border, to stop the support of the separatists, to engage a constructive political dialogue.”
Damaged Buildings
Laurent Corbaz, the international Red Cross head of operations for Europe, will travel to Kiev and Moscow “soon,” with the Russian convoy on the agenda for discussions, the Geneva-based organization said by e-mail yesterday. “He will hold meetings with senior officials to reinforce the ICRC’s strictly humanitarian role and stress that the delivery of aid into eastern Ukraine should not be politicized.”
Two buildings in Donetsk containing shopping malls were damaged by shelling early yesterday, a city council spokeswoman, Yuliya Babenko, said by phone. Emergency workers were on the scene and public transport was halted in the city center. Shelling also damaged buildings in the Kuybyshev district, killing at least two civilians, she said.
The military has urged people to leave Donetsk and Luhansk as it seeks to complete the encirclement that would shut routes to the Russian border and sever separatist supply lines. About half of the cities’ 1.5 million residents have fled, while most shops are closed.
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