Russia accused of ‘open aggression’ as separatists advance

“Direct and open aggression has been launched against Ukraine from a neighbouring state. This has changed the situation in the zone of conflict in a radical way,” President Petro Poroshenko said in a speech at a military academy in Kiev.

Ukrainian forces pulled back from the main airport at Luhansk in the east of the country after being given the order to do so, a military spokesman said.

“In the Luhansk direction, Ukrainian forces have received an order and have pulled back from the airport,” the spokesman Andriy Lysenko told reporters. He said seven Ukrainian service personnel had been killed in the past 24 hours.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov however said that Russia would not intervene with its miltary in the conflict and that it was seeking a peaceful resolution to the crisis. According to state news agency RIA, Mr Lavrov said: “There will be no military intervention, we support exclusively a peaceful settlement of this difficult crisis, of this tragedy. Everything that we’re doing is targeted at pushing through political approaches”.

Earlier today, Mr Lavrov expressed hope that talks between Russia, Ukrainian government and separatist officials, as well as the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) would bring about an immediate ceasefire.

‘Common sense’

Over the weekend, the EU said it was preparing the “next level of sanctions” against Russia as Ukraine rails against the presence of Russian troops on its soil.

But outgoing European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said he did not want “a new cold war” that would be detrimental to all of Europe.

President Putin said he hoped common sense would prevail in the west over the proposed sanctions, Russian news agency Interfax reported.

“I hope that common sense will prevail and we will work in a normal modern way, and that neither we nor our partners will bear the costs of these mutual jabs,” the agency reported him as saying.

‘No other option’

German Chancellor Angela Merkel acknowledged that enacting further sanctions against Russia could hit their own economy, but said doing nothing was “not an option”.

“I have said that (sanctions) can have an impact, also for German companies,” Merkel told a news conference in Berlin.

“But I have to say there is also an impact when you are allowed to move borders in Europe and attack other countries with your troops,” she added. “Accepting Russia’s behaviour is not an option. And therefore it was necessary to prepare further sanctions.”