Ukraine ‘destroys’ part of Russian military column

President Petro Poroshenko told British Prime Minister David Cameron about the attack on Friday, according to a statement on the presidential website.

David Cameron is “gravely concerned” at reports of Russian military vehicles crossing the Ukrainian border, according to the prime minister’s spokesman.

A Ukrainian military spokesman also said that Ukrainian forces had tracked the Russian vehicles as soon as they crossed the border. “Appropriate actions were undertaken and a part of it no longer exists,” the spokesman told journalists.

Russia denied its forces had entered Ukraine, and its foreign ministry accused Ukraine of attempting to disrupt delivery of humanitarian aid to eastern Ukraine and called for a ceasefire in the region. The Russian defence ministry said Ukraine had not destroyed an armoured column.

Ukrainian forces have escalated their attempts to regain control in the region, sensing that pro-Russian separatists are on the back foot.

In a statement, the Russian foreign ministry said: “We draw attention to the sharp intensification of military action by Ukrainian forces with the apparent aim to stop the path, agreed on with Kiev, of a humanitarian convoy across the Russia-Ukraine border”.

Earlier on Friday, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said the alliance had seen what he called a Russian incursion into Ukraine.

“It just confirms the fact that we see a continuous flow of weapons and fighters from Russia into eastern Ukraine and it is a clear demonstration of continued Russian involvement in the destabilisation of eastern Ukraine,” the Danish NATO chief said.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian border guards have been in Russia inspecting a huge aid convoy bound for Donetsk.

Around 280 trucks carrying humanitarian aid left Moscow on Tuesday and have been slowly making their way towards the Ukrainian border. Fighting between pro-Russian separatists and Ukrainian forces in eastern Ukraine has left many people short of water, food and electricity. The United Nations says more than 2,000 people have been killed after four months of fighting.

Kiev believes the aid convoy to be a PR exercise at best, and at worst, a cover for military intervention. Russia denies any ulterior motives said the foreign ministry was in intensive talks with the Ukrainian government and the Red Cross.

Kiev has said if the humanitarian convoy enters Ukraine without the consent of the authorities, the Ukrainian government will view that as an invasion.

On Friday, Ukrainian border guards were allowed to enter Russia to inspect the convoy in an area opposite the frontier town of Izvaryne. “Ukrainian border guards are there already in large numbers,” border guard spokesman Andriy Demchenko said.

Journalists in the region reported an armoured convoy of 23 vehicles entering Ukraine late on Thursday night.

So @RolandOliphant and I just saw a column of APCs and vehicles with official Russian military plates cross border into Ukraine.

— Shaun Walker (@shaunwalker7) August 14, 2014

Didn’t even turn off their headlights. Saw Russian military plates on support vehicles, but no markings I could make out on APCs.

— Roland Oliphant (@RolandOliphant) August 14, 2014

Ukrainian military spokesman, Oleksiy Dmytrashkivsky, said: “These movements into Ukrainian territory take place practically every day with the aim of provoking (the Ukrainian side).

“Last night was no exception. Some armoured vehicles came across. We are checking on the quantity and the number of people who came over.”

Both Kiev and Nato have said they fear that Russia, which they say has massed more than 40,000 troops near the border, will invade east Ukraine. Russia says it is conducting military exercises and has no plans to invade.

Speaking before the start of an emergency meeting of European Union foreign ministers, Lithuanian Foreign Minister, Linas Linkevicius, said:

“We are very much concerned about the situation developing (in Ukraine) because, on the one hand, we are talking very much about this so-called humanitarian convoy but, at the same time, we see that escalation continues, and we have reports that during the night 70 pieces of military equipment again entered through the border,”

Kiev blames Russia and the separatists for the plight of the civilians, but their situation has grown more acute as the Ukrainian military has pressed its offensive – including in areas where civilians live.

The United States and the European Union have imposed sanctions on Russia over its role in east Ukraine and the earlier annexation of Ukraine’s region of Crimea, in what has become the worst crisis in relations between Moscow and the West since the Cold War.