Ukraine says Russian army convoy in east Ukraine
A massive convoy of Russian tanks and heavy weapons have
crossed into Ukraine ,
travelling towards a government-held town in the restive east, Ukraine 's
army has said.
A statement published by the military on Wednesday said a
convoy of "up to 100" tanks, armoured vehicles and rocket launchers
was seen travelling on a road toward Telmanove, a town about 80km south of
rebel stronghold Donetsk and 20 km from the Russian border, reports Al-Jazeera
news.
The army did not give details about the personnel on board
the vehicles or when the column is thought to have entered
"We believe that this is Russian equipment. You cannot
buy 100 tanks at a market in Donetsk
or Lugansk," a source told the AFP news agency. "Of course they have
been moved from across the border."
On Wednesday, AFP journalists travelling on the same road
heading south to Telmanove said they saw traces of tank tracks and heard
explosions.
The Ukrainian military also said that a smaller group of
vehicles had crossed the border from Russia
about 110km east of Donetsk
and travelled on to the rebel stronghold.
The convoy included "six Grad rocket launchers, eight
covered Kamaz [trucks] and two Ural trucks with manpower," the statement
said.
Meanwhile, pro-Russia rebels launched at least 10 shells at
the government-held town of Novoazovsk in
southeastern Ukraine
on Wednesday in response to outgoing fire earlier.
Plumes of black smoke rose above the town, which was also
hit repeatedly by shelling on Tuesday, injuring four people in a hospital,
mayor Oleg Sidorkin said.
The developments came a day after Vladimir Putin, the
Russian president, and Petro Poroshenko, his Ukrainian counterpart, met in the
Belarusian capital of Minsk
for their first ever substantial one-on-one meeting.
Poroshenko called the talks "overall positive" and
said 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.
Putin, however, insisted that only Kiev
could secure a ceasefire deal with the pro-Moscow separatists, saying the
conflict was "Ukraine 's
business".
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