Aid convoy an 'invasion,' Ukraine says

A Russian border guard opens a gate Friday for the first trucks of a Russian aid convoy heading into Ukraine after more than a week’s delay and without Kiev’s permission.
A Russian border guard opens a gate Friday for the first trucks of a Russian aid convoy heading into Ukraine after more than a week’s delay and without Kiev’s permission.

LUHANSK, Ukraine -- Tensions between Russia and Ukraine escalated sharply Friday as Moscow sent more than 130 trucks rolling across the border in what it said was a mission to deliver humanitarian aid. Ukraine called it a "direct invasion," and the U.S. and NATO condemned it as well.

In another ominous turn in the crisis, NATO said it has mounting evidence that Russian troops are operating inside Ukraine and launching artillery attacks from Ukrainian soil -- significantly deeper involvement in the fighting than the West has previously alleged.

The trucks, part of a convoy of 260 vehicles, entered Ukraine without government permission after being held up at the border for a week amid fears that the mission was a Kremlin ploy to help the pro-Russia separatists in eastern Ukraine.

By late afternoon, trucks had reached the city of Luhansk, whose war-reduced population of a quarter-million people has suffered under intense fighting over the past several weeks between Ukrainian forces and the separatists. Russia said the white-tarped vehicles were carrying food, water, generators and sleeping bags.

The arrival of the trucks instantly raised the stakes in the crisis: An attack on the convoy could give Russia a pretext to intervene more deeply in the war. And a pause in the fighting to allow the convoy safe passage could hamper further battlefield advances by Ukrainian forces, which have reported substantial inroads against the rebels over the past week.

photo

AP

A convoy of trucks carrying aid from Russia to parts of eastern Ukraine rolls Friday on the main road to Luhansk.

In sending in the convoy, Russia said it had lost patience with Ukraine's stalling tactics and claimed that soon "there will no longer be anyone left to help" in Luhansk, where weeks of heavy shelling have cut off power, water and phone service, and made food scarce.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko called the convoy's entry "a flagrant violation of international law."

The head of Ukraine's state security service, Valentyn Nalyvaichenko, said the move was a well-planned, dangerous provocation.

"We call this a direct invasion," he said.

He said the trucks were half-empty and would be used to transport weapons to rebels and spirit away the bodies of Russian fighters killed in eastern Ukraine. He said the men operating the trucks were Russian military personnel trained to drive combat vehicles, tanks and artillery.

Nalyvaichenko insisted, however, that Ukraine would not shell the convoy.

Andriy Lysenko, Ukraine's military spokesman, warned that Ukraine had no responsibility for the safety of Russian trucks traveling in rebel-controlled territory. But he did not repeat threats he made last week to block any Russian entry that violated agreements between Moscow and Kiev.

"This is a provocation," Lysenko said. "They expect us to attack the convoy."

He added that Ukrainian forces would allow the convoy to reach Luhansk because "it is easy to shoot but the consequences would be very destructive." He said Ukraine would adopt a different approach if it turned out that, after reaching Luhansk, the convoy "has other equipment, not just humanitarian aid."

Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk also declared that the trucks were half-empty and were not going to deliver aid but would instead be used to create a provocation. He said he feared Russia would attack the convoy itself, creating an international crisis.

At the United Nations in New York, Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin denied that any Russian troops were inside Ukraine. Russia has also steadfastly denied supporting and arming the rebels.

The White House and Pentagon on Friday demanded that Russia withdraw the convoy immediately. Rear Adm. John Kirby, the Pentagon spokesman, warned, "Failure to do so will result in additional costs and isolation."

Meanwhile, NATO's secretary-general condemned Russia for sending in a "so-called humanitarian convoy." Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Russia committed "a blatant breach" of its international commitments and "a further violation of Ukraine's sovereignty."

NATO spokesman Oana Lungescu also said that since mid-August, the military alliance has seen multiple reports of direct involvement of Russian forces in Ukraine, along with transfers of tanks and other heavy weapons to the separatists, and "an alarming buildup of Russian ground and air forces in the vicinity of Ukraine."

"Russian artillery support -- both cross-border and from within Ukraine -- is being employed against the Ukrainian armed forces," she said. Previously, the West accused Russia of cross-border shelling only.

At a private session of the United Nations Security Council on Friday, some members, including Britain, urged Russia to call back the aid trucks, British Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant said.

Churkin argued that the U.N. itself had provided Moscow the legal ground to enter Ukraine without permission from Kiev by once passing a Syria resolution to allow humanitarian-aid delivery without government consent.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed "deep concern" and warned that "any unilateral action has the potential of exacerbating an already dangerous situation," a spokesman said.

In Brussels, a spokesman for European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said Russia was acting in "clear violation" of Ukraine's borders and urged Moscow to reverse its decision.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Russia's move risked escalating an already tense situation. Merkel raised the issue during phone calls with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Poroshenko.

Despite Russia's actions, Merkel said the aid convoy should be allowed to reach those in need in rebel-held areas, and that Ukrainian aid convoys should be allowed to reach the same areas.

Putin rejected criticism from Merkel, who is expected to make a brief visit today to Ukraine to press for a cease-fire before Poroshenko and Putin meet with top EU officials Tuesday in Belarus.

Putin told Merkel that he had to make a decision after the Ukrainian government repeatedly delayed approval to Russian trucks carrying the aid, the Kremlin said. He told Merkel he was "deeply concerned" by the Western-backed government's decision to push on with military operations in the separatist-held cities of Donetsk and Luhansk, which is causing civilian deaths.

The Red Cross, which had planned to escort the convoy to assuage fears that it was a cover for a Russian invasion, said it had not received enough security guarantees to do so, as shelling had continued overnight. Four troops were killed and 23 wounded in a 24-hour period in eastern Ukraine, the government reported Friday.

The government said it had authorized the entry of only 35 trucks. International monitors said that as of midday, 134 trucks, 12 support vehicles and one ambulance had crossed into Ukraine.

In announcing its decision to act, the Russian Foreign Ministry said: "There is increasingly a sense that the Ukrainian leaders are deliberately dragging out the delivery of the humanitarian load until there is a situation in which there will no longer be anyone left to help.

"We are warning against any attempts to thwart this purely humanitarian mission," it said.

Rebel forces took advantage of Ukraine's promise not to shell the convoy to drive on the same country road as the trucks. Some 20 green military supply vehicles -- flatbed trucks and fuel tankers -- were seen traveling in the opposite direction, along with smaller rebel vehicles.

The fighting in eastern Ukraine began in mid-April, a month after Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula. It has killed over 2,000 people and forced 340,000 to flee, according to the United Nations.

Also Friday, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius said the country's honorary consul in Luhansk had been abducted and killed by "terrorists." There were no further details.

Information for this article was contributed by Mstyslav Chernov, Peter Leonard, Laura Mills, Nataliya Vasilyeva, Alexander Roslyakov, Robert Burns and Alexandra Olson of The Associated Press; by staff members of the Deutsche Presse-Agentur; and by Andrew Higgins, Andrew Roth, David M. Herszenhorn, Andrew E. Kramer, Nick Cumming-Bruce, Alexandra Odynova and Helene Cooper of The New York Times.

A Section on 08/23/2014

Upcoming Events