Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on July 14 is expected to show documented proof of further Russian involvement in the illegal supply of military equipment across the Russian-Ukrainian border.
A convoy of about 100 armored vehicles
entered Ukraine from Russia on July 13, according to Defense Ministry
spokesperson Andriy Lysenko. He added that Ukrainian forces conducted five air
strikes against the transport convoy and against Kremlin-backed bases in
eastern Ukraine.
The escalation by Russia sent
worrying signals throughout Ukraine’s defense and intelligence community.
“We have facts and proof that we shall show tomorrow (on July 14) to the international community,”
stated deputy presidential chief of staff Valeriy Chalyi on Inter television.
At the same time, Poroshenko
asked European Union President Herman Van Rompuy to give a “proper assessment”
of the Russian military vehicles illegally crossing Ukraine’s porous borders.
He stated that the escalation by Russia should be placed on the agenda of a July
16 meeting of the Council of Europe.
Meanwhile, a telephone
conversation on July 13 between U.S. President Barack Obama and British Prime
Minister David Cameron concluded that Russia has not made progress
complying with steps to calm the situation. They agreed Western nations should
impose deeper costs on Russia if it “does not take immediate steps toward
de-escalation,” the Associated Press reported. The U.S. and EU should
impose further sanctions on Russia should they fail to take those steps, they
said.
Thus far the EU has
blacklisted 72 people and two companies, the majority of whom are Russian,
related to military aggression toward Ukraine, including its annexation of
Crimea in March, added Bloomberg news service.
Requiring unanimity, the EU
can consider sector-wide sanctions against Russian industry, investment or
trade at the July 16 summit of EU leaders in Brussels. France, Italy,
Slovakia, Austria and Greece have thus far objected, reported Bloomberg.
Additionally, Ukraine’s Defense
Ministry stated that seven government servicemen were killed and 30 wounded in
the past 24 hours.
Meanwhile, Russia has blamed
Ukraine for shelling a residential area on the Russian side of the border in
Rostov Oblast that left one person dead on July 13. President Vladimir Putin’s
government chided the Ukrainian government and called its charge d’affaires for
a scolding.
Kyiv called the accusation
“total nonsense” and suggested the attack could have been the work of rebels
trying to provoke Moscow to intervene on their behalf, adding that it neither
“fires on neighboring countries (nor) upon residential buildings with peaceful
civilians.”
Ukrainian forces do not
control the border point where the alleged death took place on the Russian
side.
Kyiv Post editor Mark
Rachkevych can be reached at [email protected].
