ANKARA
The entry of heavily armed Russian military units into Ukraine causes a "substantial rollback" of the cease-fire agreement," Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said in a statement on Friday.
A convoy of 32 tanks, 16 vehicles carrying mortars and 30 vehicles carrying Russian soldiers was seen advancing from Russia to Ukraine's Luhansk’s Krasniy Luç district, National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine spokesman Andrey Lisenko said on Friday.
“By sending another Russian humanitarian convoy which is bypassing the Ukrainian border and customs control, as well as failing to coordinate with the International Committee of the Red Cross, is a brutal violation of international law, one which will have negative consequences for peaceful settlement and the humanitarian situation in the Donbas,” Poroshenko said.
Poroshenko issued the statement after talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Merkel expressed "serious concern" over the reports, sources at the Chancellor's office said.
Separately, as many as 200 pro-Russian separatists were killed in clashes with the Ukrainian army on Thursday night, near the Donetsk airport, security officials said on Friday.
The Ukrianian army had also destroyed four tanks, three military cars and two mortars, the officials said.
During the last 24 hours, five Ukrainian soldiers were killed and 16 others were injured in clashes with pro-Russian separatists, National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine spokesman Andrey Lisenko said
Pro-Russian separatists have violated the cease-fire 49 times during the last 24 hours, Lisenko said, adding that they had used heavy weapons near the Donetsk Airport and at some other locations.
The conflict in Eastern Ukraine, which so far has left more than 4000 dead, is escalating in spite of the cease-fire agreement signed by the Ukrainian government and the pro-Russian separatists on Sept. 5 in Belarus' capital Minsk. The agreement, which is not being respected, was intended to put an end to the conflict which has left thousands dead.
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