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As Ukraine Forces Make Headway, Russia Is Said to Step Up Role Russia Steps Up Help for Rebels in Ukraine War
(about 5 hours later)
KIEV, Ukraine — Russia has stepped up its direct involvement in fighting between the Ukranian military and separatist insurgents, unleashing artillery attacks from Russian territory and massing heavy weapons along the border, Ukrainian and American officials say. KIEV, Ukraine — Rather than backing down after last week’s downing of a civilian passenger jet, Russia appears to be intervening more aggressively in the war in eastern Ukraine in what American and Ukrainian officials call a dangerous escalation that will almost certainly force more robust retaliation from the United States and Europe.
Russia’s aim, the officials say, appears to be to stem and perhaps roll back gains made by government forces, who have been retaking rebel-held territory and trying to seal the border. They say Russia’s accelerated intervention raises the prospect of more direct and more heated fighting between Ukraine and Russia. Russia has increased its direct involvement in fighting between the Ukrainian military and separatist insurgents, moving more of its own troops to the border and preparing to arm the rebels with ever more potent weapons, including high-powered Tornado rocket launchers, American and Ukrainian officials said on Friday.
American officials, citing military intelligence, including satellite images, warned that Russia appeared to be preparing to arm the rebels with more high-powered weaponry than it has previously supplied, including tanks, armored vehicles and powerful Tornado multiple rocket launchers. The officials, citing satellite images and other military intelligence, said that Russia had positioned heavy weapons, including tanks and other combat vehicles, at several points along the border where there has been intense fighting. On Thursday, Russia unleashed artillery attacks on eastern Ukraine from Russian territory, officials in Washington and Kiev said. While Russia flatly denied accelerating its intervention on Friday, American and Ukrainian officials said Moscow appeared anxious to stem gains by government forces that have succeeded in retaking some rebel-held territory.
Among the gains of the Ukrainian forces, following days of intense fighting, was the recapture of Lysychansk. The city of more than 100,000 had been a rebel stronghold, posing a strategic obstacle to government troops pressing through the Luhansk region from the north and west. The Ukrainian military called in air support as its ground troops struggled to expel insurgents. The reported Russian moves raised the prospect of a new and more perilous chapter opening in a conflict that has already inflamed the region and, with the destruction of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 with 298 aboard, stunned the world. American officials blamed a Russian-provided surface-to-air missile for the explosion and hoped the shock of the episode would prompt the Kremlin to rethink its approach, but they are increasingly convinced it has not.
The reports of increased hostilities suggest that rather than scale back its military intervention in Ukraine after a Malaysia Airlines jet was shot down by a missile that the United States and Ukraine say was supplied by Russia, Moscow is instead devoting even more firepower to the pro-Russia separatists’ cause, despite international condemnation and toughened United States sanctions. Obama administration officials said Russia’s rising involvement had stiffened the resolve of European leaders who have been reluctant to confront Moscow for fear of damaging their own economies. But there was no appetite for a direct military response, and it remained unclear whether the West could or would take action that may change the calculus of President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia as Moscow seems to devote more firepower to the fight.
A NATO military officer, speaking on the condition of anonymity because the comments were about sensitive intelligence matters, said by telephone, “The United States has shared intelligence information with NATO today regarding strikes that are occurring from within Russian territory, firing into Ukraine territory.” American and Ukrainian officials said Russia has moved beyond simply helping separatists and is now engaging directly in the war. Multiple Ukrainian military planes have been brought down in recent days by missiles fired from Russian territory, and now artillery batteries are firing from across the border into Ukraine, the officials said.
In Kiev, the Ukrainian capital, a military spokesman said on Friday that Ukrainian troops were coming under increased fire from the Russian side of the border, and that the Ukrainian military had recently shot down three Russian surveillance drones. One was used to target a Ukrainian base near the town of Amvrosiivka, which then quickly came under heavy rocket attack, the spokesman said. “We have detected that firing and that does represent an escalation in this conflict,” said Josh Earnest, the White House press secretary. “It only underscores the concerns that the United States and the international community has about Russian behavior and the need for the Putin regime to change their strategy.”
The military spokesman, Andriy Lysenko, said Ukrainian forces were engaged in particularly heavy fighting near a border crossing at Chervona Zorya, not far from where two Ukrainian fighter jets were downed on Wednesday in what Ukrainian officials said was a missile attack from the Russian side of the border. American officials said Russia has moved 15,000 troops near the border. Col. Steve Warren, a Pentagon spokesman, told reporters that Russia had made “imminent” plans to deliver heavier rockets to the separatists. Instead of Mr. Putin de-escalating the conflict after the Malaysia Airlines tragedy, “he’s actually taken a decision to escalate,” Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a security forum in Aspen, Colo.
“We have facts of shelling of Ukrainian positions from the territory of Russian Federation,” Mr. Lysenko said. “We have facts on the violation of air border between Ukraine and Russia.” Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. called President Petro O. Poroshenko of Ukraine to express solidarity and pledge to coordinate with allies “about imposing further costs on Russia for its deeply destabilizing and irresponsible actions in Ukraine,” the White House said in a statement.
Mr. Lysenko said some Russian soldiers had surrendered to Ukrainian forces. “We have information about weapons and mercenaries, who have respective skills for warfare, who have been passing over from the territory of Russian Federation,” he said. While the United States has been hesitant to make its intelligence public, Ukrainian officials have provided a daily, running list of Russian incursions, including flights into Russian air space by fighter jets and unmanned surveillance drones, as well as mortar and rocket attacks.
Although military activity by Russia has been most active in the border regions where there is active fighting, there have been reports of deployments of troops and equipment at many different points along the border, which runs more than 1,425 miles. This week, the Ukrainian military reported five Russian armored personnel carriers, three tanks and other military vehicles in the Belgorod region of Russia, where officials said Russia had stationed equipment, along with about 500 troops, on a children’s camp outside the village of Golovchino. “We have facts of shelling of Ukrainian positions from the territory of Russian Federation,” Andriy Lysenko, a spokesman for Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, said at a briefing in Kiev on Friday. “We have facts on the violation of air border between Ukraine and Russia.”
In the Sumy region of Russia, the Ukrainian military observed a column of military vehicles bearing Russian flags, including seven armored personnel carriers and two combat reconnaissance vehicles, traveling at high speed into a neutral zone between the Russian border post called Grayvoron and its Ukrainian counterpart, Velyka Pysarivka. With Ukrainian forces waiting, officials said, the column turned around. Mr. Lysenko said there were active-duty Russian soldiers who had surrendered, as well as volunteer Russian fighters who had been captured. “We have information about weapons and mercenaries who have respective skills for warfare, who have been passing over from the territory of the Russian Federation,” Mr. Lysenko said.
Russia has repeatedly denied that its forces are involved in the fighting in eastern Ukraine and that it is supplying rebels with weapons and other equipment, despite a substantial body of evidence collected by Ukraine and its allies. Ukraine and the United States have also said the missile that destroyed Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was fired from rebel territory using a system supplied by Russia. Russia pointedly denied the American allegations on Friday. In a statement, the Russian Foreign Ministry accused the United States of engaging in a “smear campaign.”
The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Friday issued a statement accusing the United States of engaging in a "smear campaign" against Russia and flatly denying that it was planning to supply heavy weapons or had fired artillery across the border.
“All of this is accompanied by references to some ‘evidence’ allegedly available to the United States,” the ministry said. “Not one of these ‘evidences,’ however, has been shown, which is not surprising. Facts and specifics to support false allegations simply do not exist.”“All of this is accompanied by references to some ‘evidence’ allegedly available to the United States,” the ministry said. “Not one of these ‘evidences,’ however, has been shown, which is not surprising. Facts and specifics to support false allegations simply do not exist.”
Ukrainian officials say their forces in recent days have recaptured at least 10 towns, shrinking the amount of territory under rebel control in the embattled regions of Luhansk and Donetsk and gaining substantial advantage, including over some of the main highways in the region. Officials have said they believe that they could defeat the rebels within three weeks if there is no further intervention by Russia, either in the form of new vehicles and weapons or — less likely — a direct invasion by Russian forces. On Friday, the European Union took another step toward imposing additional economic penalties focused on the financial, energy and military sectors of the Russian economy, but a letter to European leaders from Herman Van Rompuy, the president of the European Council, made clear that officials were still struggling to find a balance.
In recent days, officials have said, there have been incessant attacks from Russian territory, as well as incursions into Ukrainian airspace by Russian military aircraft. Mr. Lysenko said on Thursday that several border posts, along with the Luhansk airport, were shelled by Grad rockets fired from Russian territory. Mr. Lysenko, the military spokesman, said that Ukrainian troops were coming under increased fire from the Russian side of the border, and that the Ukrainian military had recently shot down three Russian surveillance drones. One was used to target a Ukrainian base near the town of Amvrosiivka, which then quickly came under heavy rocket attack, he said.
Last week, Gen. Philip M. Breedlove, NATO’s top commander, cited a video that appears to show the Russian military firing the Grad rockets into Ukraine. “I am deeply concerned by this latest video that appears to show Russia engaging in military action against Ukraine,” General Breedlove wrote on Twitter. Ukrainian officials say their forces have recaptured at least 10 towns, shrinking the amount of territory under rebel control in the embattled regions of Luhansk and Donetsk and gaining substantial advantage, including over some of the main highways in the region.
While Ukraine has long complained about the flow of weapons, tanks and volunteer fighters across the Russian border, the allegations of direct Russian intervention have grown far more serious in the last two weeks. The recent gains by Ukrainian forces included the recapture of the city of Lysychansk after days of fighting. The city of more than 100,000 had been a rebel stronghold, and it posed a strategic obstacle to government troops pressing through the Luhansk region from the north and west. Ukrainian ground troops needed air support to expel the rebels, but were able to push them south and out of the city.
On July 14, a Ukrainian military transport plane was shot down by what Ukrainian officials said was a powerful missile fired from the Russian side of the border. The next day, officials said, a Russian plane bombed an apartment building in the town of Snizhne, killing 11 people, and the day after that, a Russian MiG-29 crossed into Ukrainian airspace and engaged two Ukrainian Su-25 fighter jets in a dogfight before shooting one down. The Malaysia Airlines jetliner, with 298 people aboard, was shot down the next afternoon. Officials have said they believed that they could defeat the rebels within three weeks if there were no further intervention by Russia.
By placing forces close to the border, the Russians can provide fire support to the separatists, prevent Ukrainian troops from establishing control over the border and facilitate the delivery of Russian arms to the separatists. The Ukrainian military has expressed frustration that at least two sections of the border remain porous. One goal of the Russian attacks on targets, an American official said, is to keep Ukrainian forces away from the border, making it easier for Russia to transport weapons and cooperate with the insurgents.
“The quantity and sophistication of weaponry being sent by Russia across the border is increasing,” one Western official said on Friday, adding that Russian artillery units have been firing into Ukraine from Russian territory “in direct support of separatists.” Like other officials with access to classified intelligence assessments, he spoke on the condition of anonymity.“The quantity and sophistication of weaponry being sent by Russia across the border is increasing,” one Western official said on Friday, adding that Russian artillery units have been firing into Ukraine from Russian territory “in direct support of separatists.” Like other officials with access to classified intelligence assessments, he spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Even as Russia has been firing into Ukraine, there has been rising concern about Russian forces positioned near the Russian-Ukrainian border.
A senior American official said last week that Russia had about 13,000 troops and more than half a dozen combined arms battalions near the border. On Thursday, another American official said that more units were headed to the border area, and that it remained to be seen whether they were being sent to reinforce the Russian forces or replace some of the troops there.
By placing forces close to the border, the Russians can provide fire support to the separatists, prevent Ukrainian troops from establishing control over the border and facilitate the delivery of Russian arms to the separatists. The Ukrainian military has expressed frustration that at least two sections of the border remain porous.
One of the goals of the Russian artillery and short-range-missile attacks on targets in Ukrainian territory, an American official said, is to keep Ukrainian forces away from the border, making it easier for Russia to transport weapons and cooperate with the insurgents.
American officials have said that a training area for Ukrainian separatists has been set up near Rostov in southwestern Russia, and that instruction has taken place there involving the use of major weapons systems, including air defense systems.