Russian tanks' seen cruising through Donetsk in Ukraine, June 13 2014
The EU and US have urged Russia to stop arming Ukraine rebels after Ukraine said Russian tanks and artillery crossed the border on Thursday (12 June).
Makiyivka/Makeevka near Donetsk, June 12 2014
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said Ukraine’s new leader, Petro Poroshenko, told him about the tanks in a phonecall.
“It is very important that Russia ceases any kind of military actions in this area,” Barroso noted in a statement.
Jen Psaki, the US State Department spokeswoman, told press in Washington: “If these latest reports [on tanks] are true, which I don’t have confirmation of, this incursion marks a serious and disturbing escalation.”
The US ambassador to Ukraine, Geoffrey Pyatt, on Friday morning gave credence to Poroshenko’s report.
He tweeted a link to video footage showing tanks rolling down a street in rebel-held east Ukraine, adding: “Kremlin! Tanks in Donetsk – this is your 'humanitarian assistance' to Ukraine?”.
Donetsk, late afternoon at June 12 2014
The escalation comes as the EU and Ukraine prepare to sign a free trade treaty on 27 June which will legally bind Ukraine to stay out of Russia’s Eurasian Union.
The EU and US say they will impose economic sanctions on Russia if it does not cease hostilities in the run-up to the date.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Poroshenko also spoke by phone on Thursday in what Barroso called a “positive step”.
Meanwhile, Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov told press he has his own reports that Ukraine is using phosphorous bombs, which are banned by the UN.
He said Russia plans to file a UN Security Council resolution calling on Ukraine to stop fighting the rebels.
But the US spokeswoman, Psaki, dismissed the move. She told the Washington press corps: “We find it hypocritical for the Russian leadership to call for an end to violence or call on the Ukrainians to take these steps when Russian separatists are abetting the violence and bringing weapons illegally into the country.”
Speaking in a separate interview with Germany’s Der Spiegel magazine, German defence minister Ursula Von der Leyen, noted that Putin and Lavrov statements carry less weight than they used to.
“Vladimir Putin has destroyed an enormous amount of trust with his conduct ... Currently, Russia is not a partner. Partners adhere to joint agreements”, she said.
She noted that Germany is contributing to an increase in NATO's military presence in former Iron Curtain members: “President Putin knows that NATO stands solidly behind its eastern members. That's why he won't touch the sovereignty or integrity of these countries.”
The EU’s Barroso spoke on Ukraine while on a tour of three other former Soviet republics which are building closer EU ties.
On Wednesday and Thursday he visited Moldova and Georgia, which are to sign EU trade treaties along with Ukraine, and on Friday he went to Azerbaijan, which is to supply gas for an EU pipeline bypassing Russia.
He said the EU is spending €131 million on support for visa-free travel, energy reform, and rural development in Moldova this year. It has also doubled tariff-free import quotas on Moldovan fruit and vegetables.
He noted that closer EU ties can “benefit” Transniestria - a Russian-occupied breakaway region - if Transniestria puts “the right dispositions” in place.
With Russia threatening trade sanctions on Moldova if it signs the EU pact, Barroso added: “I call upon Russia to take advantage of the new opportunities and not to take punitive measures … There is no economic reason nor legal justification for such behaviour.”
EM PR: 13. June 2014
Ukraine's ATO Forces Destroyed Two (Russian) Battle Tanks and Three APCs, Special Forces Have Casualties
The Ukraine's Minister of internal Affairs Arsen Avakov claims that some Russian tanks and APCS, that crossed the border with Ukraine yesterday, have been destroyed this morning by Ukraine's ATO forces
During combat clashes on June 13, four Ukrainian special forces servicemen were killed in action and 31 wounded. No data is available on the terrorist’s casualties
There were a number of combat clashes between terrorists and ATO forces in the area of anti-terrorism operation (ATO) last night, Dmitry Tymchuk, the head of the Center for Military-Political Studies, stated on his Facebook page. He states that Ukrainian special forces destroyed two battle tanks which arrived earlier at the disposal of pro-Russian terrorists. ATO forces have also destroyed three armored personnel carriers, two trucks transporting terrorists and weapon, two vehicles mounted with heavy machine guns Degtyariov-Shpagin (DSHK).
“Three convoys invaded from Russia were blocked and seized by ATO forces captured in the areas bordering on Russia. Seized vehicles were carrying ammunition and weapons for terrorists,” – noted Dmitry Tymchuk.
Tymchuk reported that during the combat clashes four Ukrainian special forces servicemen were killed in action and 31wounded. No available data on terrorists casualties at the moment.
Earlier, on June 12, Arsen Avakov, the Minister of Interior said that convoys of military vehicles entered eastern Ukraine through checkpoints seized by terrorists on the Eastern border of Ukraine. He confirmed information that three tanks passed through the border of Ukraine. According to preliminary data, these are T-72 tanks, which are in service in the Russian army. The Ukrainian army does not have any model of this tanks. As was commented earlier by EuromaidanPR, due to numerous modifications of the T-72 and T-64 and inter-connections between defense industries of Ukraine and Russia it is hard to determine tank model only from a video.
In the evening of June 12, 2014, a convoy of three Russian main battle tanks and two KAMAZ trucks with terrorists entered Donetsk from Makiyivka. Later in the evening, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko called this situation “unacceptable” in a telephone conversation with Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation.
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