Claim: Russian Military Column Crossed Border, Ukraine Destroyed It

Reporters from The Guardian and The
Telegraph say they saw “23
Russian armoured personnel carriers, supported by fuel trucks and
other military logistics vehicles, crossing into Ukrainian
territory” Thursday after nightfall. Russia denies it, but now
Ukraine says that it must have existed, because they destroyed part
of it.

According to
the website of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, the “given
information” from the British papers “was trustworthy and confirmed
because the majority of that machines had been eliminated by the
Ukrainian artillery at night.” Poroshenko discussed the event with
British Prime Minister David Cameron.

From
The Globe and Mail:

Separately, a Ukrainian military spokesman said Ukrainian forces
had tracked the Russian armored column as soon as it crossed onto
Ukrainian soil.

“Appropriate actions were undertaken and a part of it no longer
exists,” military spokesman Andriy Lysenko told journalists.

NATO accused the Kremlin on Friday of escalating the conflict in
Ukraine, following reports of the overnight crossing.

“If confirmed, they are further evidence that Russia is doing
the very opposite of what it’s saying. Russia has been escalating
the conflict, even as it calls for de-escalation,” NATO spokeswoman
Oana Lungescu said.

Secretary of State John Kerry was
hopeful earlier this week that peace would come soon to eastern
Ukraine, which has been a warzone for over four months. The Obama
administration’s handling of the situation has
very low approval, even among Democrats.

This week, Russia has been trying to send what it claims to be
280 trucks worth of “humanitarian aid” across the Ukrainian border.
For days, no one knew what was inside the vehicles, which have
military guards. Today, the Russians allowed press to view the
interiors of some trucks and, strangely, “a lot of them [are]
mostly empty,” notes the Financial
Times‘ Courtney Weaver who snapped photographs.

The trucks are trying to get into the rebel-held cities of
Donetsk and Luhansk, which are now surrounded by Ukrainian
government forces.

The rebel hierarchy appears to be collapsing. A chief military
commander Igor Girkin, a.k.a. “Strelkov” (“The Shooter”), quit
yesterday. He was a colonel and intelligence officer for Russia
before taking up arms for the “people’s republics” of Donetsk and
Luhansk. Girkin is perhaps most notorious for
taking responsibility for the downing of the Malaysian
passenger plane before finding out that it was not a Ukrainian
military plane. Russian media
reported earlier this week that he was badly injured in
Donetsk, but other separatists denied is as just a rumor.

The Moscow Times
notes that two self-appointed political leaders have also
resigned in the last week. 

E.U. officials today suggested
that if the situation stabilizes, the E.U. would consider ending
sanctions against Russia. But if Ukraine’s claim about defensive
artillery strikes against invasive Russian fores proves true,
stability may be a long way off. 

Read more Reason coverage of Ukraine here.