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Russian Trucks Cross Border Without Assent of Ukraine Russian Trucks Cross Border Without Assent of Ukraine
(about 2 hours later)
IZVARYNE, Ukraine — More than 200 trucks from a long-stalled Russian convoy said to be carrying humanitarian aid crossed the border into eastern Ukraine on Friday, without the consent of the Ukrainian government and unaccompanied by Red Cross escorts, as had been earlier agreed upon. KIEV, Ukraine —
The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a long statement in Moscow saying, in essence, that it had authorized the crossing because it was fed up with stalling by the government in Kiev. More than 200 trucks from a long-stalled Russian convoy said to be carrying humanitarian aid crossed the border into eastern Ukraine on Friday without Red Cross escorts, drawing angry accusations from Ukraine that Moscow had broken its word and mounted what a senior Ukrainian security official called a “direct invasion.”
Russian news agencies quoted a spokesman for President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia as saying that Mr. Putin had been informed of the convoy’s movements. At a news briefing in Washington, the Pentagon spokesman, Rear Adm. John Kirby, condemned the convoy as an “unauthorized entry into Ukraine” and called for the vehicles’ immediate withdrawal.
The International Committee of the Red Cross said it was not traveling with the trucks because of the “volatile security situation” in rebel-held regions of Ukraine. The Red Cross had earlier agreed to oversee delivery of the aid and had been part of the protracted negotiations between the Russian and Ukrainian governments. There were no signs of Russian military vehicles or any other indications of an armed escort by Russian forces. But Ukraine stepped back from earlier threats to use “all forces available” to halt any Russian vehicles that crossed the frontier without its full accord, and President Petro O. Poroshenko assured the visiting foreign minister of Lithuania that “we will do our best to ensure that this did not lead to more serious consequences.”
Several dozen trucks, from a convoy of about 270, crossed the border at Izvaryne, in the conflict-torn region of Luhansk, around noon. Soldiers carrying automatic rifles and wearing camouflage, some bearing the markings of the rebel fighters in eastern Ukraine, cleared the road of cars and people to let the convoy pass. The comments by Mr. Poroshenko, however, who on Saturday hosts a visit by the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, suggested that Ukraine would limit its response to verbal protests and not use force against the Russian vehicles.
The trucks traveled about 10 miles to the city of Krasnodon, where they appeared to change course to take smaller roads, presumably to avoid areas of continuing fighting or narrow highway checkpoints. The arrival of the first Russian aid trucks in Ukrainian territory nonetheless sharply raised tensions between the two estranged neighbors ahead of talks next Tuesday between Mr. Poroshenko and his Russian counterpart, President Vladimir V. Putin. The two leaders are scheduled to meet, along with officials from the European Union, in the Belarus capital of Minsk.
Russian and Ukrainian border and customs officials had checked 34 of the Russian trucks on Thursday in the presence of Red Cross observers, Ewan Watson, a spokesman for the International Committee of the Red Cross, said in Geneva. The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a long statement in Moscow saying in essence that it had authorized the crossing because it was fed up with stalling by the government in Kiev. Russian news agencies quoted a spokesman for Mr. Putin as saying that he “had been informed” of the convoy’s movements.
Under the arrangements agreed to by Russia and Ukraine, Red Cross officials were to escort the trucks to Luhansk but decided not to proceed after heavy shelling around that city during the night, Mr. Watson said.
“This morning we decided we didn’t have the security guarantees in place to move with this convoy,” he said. “The convoy subsequently left without us.”
The Red Cross remains ready to facilitate aid deliveries when conditions permit, but the remaining trucks in the Russian convoy have yet to be inspected by customs officials. “We don’t know if that will go ahead,” Mr. Watson said.
The United States and its European allies have warned that any crossing of the border by Russian military vehicles, even under the pretext of protecting the aid convoy, will be regarded as an invasion.
In its statement, the Russian foreign ministry made it clear that the Kremlin had decided on its own to send the convoy forward.
“All the excuses to delay the delivery of aid to people in the area of a humanitarian catastrophe are exhausted,” the ministry said. “The Russian side has made a decision to act. Our column with humanitarian cargo starts moving toward Luhansk.”“All the excuses to delay the delivery of aid to people in the area of a humanitarian catastrophe are exhausted,” the ministry said. “The Russian side has made a decision to act. Our column with humanitarian cargo starts moving toward Luhansk.”
While Russia accused the Ukrainian government of stalling the convoy while the Ukrainian government in Kiev, the capital, tries to achieve its military aims, the Kremlin’s decision to begin moving the convoy to Luhansk without the participation of the Red Cross may have been a ploy to spare rebels in the city from imminent defeat by the Ukrainian military. In addition to describing the entry of the Russian trucks as a “direct invasion,” Valentyn Nalyvaichenko, the head of Ukraine’s Security Service, asserted that the vehicles were driven by Russian military personnel and were part of the first incursion ever carried out “under the cover of the Red Cross.”
Spreading the conspicuously large white aid trucks through the embattled city could effectively impose a cease-fire, essentially daring the Ukrainians to fire at vehicles that have been sent to provide humanitarian assistance. Any respite in Ukraine’s military offensive could allow rebels still fighting for control of Luhansk to dig in further, and indefinitely postpone any attempt to oust them. Rather than an invasion, however, the arrival of Russian trucks, which Ukrainian officials partly inspected Thursday evening on the Russian side of the border and found to contain buckwheat, rice, sugar and water, appeared to be a Russian effort to stall an accelerating offensive by Ukrainian forces against beleaguered pro-Russian rebels.
The Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement accusing the Russians of “ignoring the established international rules, procedures and agreements reached with the consent and support of the International Committee of the Red Cross” and said Russia was “smuggling humanitarian aid to Ukraine.” The trucks are traveling toward Luhansk, a besieged rebel-held city that has come under heavy pressure in recent days from Ukrainian forces. The city’s fall would deliver a humiliating blow to Mr. Putin, who has faced mounting calls from hard-line nationalists in Russia to intervene decisively to stave off defeat for the Russian-speaking and often ethnically Russian rebels.
The ministry’s statement said Russia was now responsible for the safety of the convoy. “We consider this act another flagrant violation by the Russian Federation of the key principles of international law, including inviolability of borders, noninterference in the internal affairs of another state and conscientious fulfillment of international obligations,” the ministry said. The Kremlin has repeatedly denied supporting the rebels, despite a steady flow of arms and fighters into eastern Ukraine from Russia, but has tied itself to their fate by whipping up a nationalist fervor with vows by Mr. Putin to protect Russians beyond Russia’s borders.
The State Border Guard Service of Ukraine said in a statement on Friday that it had cleared 34 trucks: 32 containing food including buckwheat, rice, sugar and water and 2 containing medical supplies. Spreading the conspicuously large, white aid trucks through Luhansk could effectively impose a cease-fire, essentially daring the Ukrainians to fire at vehicles that have been sent to provide desperately needed humanitarian assistance. Any respite in Ukraine’s military offensive could allow rebels still fighting for control of Luhansk to dig in further, and indefinitely postpone any attempt to oust them.
The border service said thatas the trucks began moving, the Ukrainian team of inspectors was blocked at a checkpoint that leads into a part of Ukraine still controlled by rebels. Ukraine has from the start viewed Russia’s aid convoy, which left Moscow on Tuesday last week, with deep suspicion, worrying that the vehicles could be carrying weapons or be part of a ruse by Moscow to support the pro-Russian separatists, who have declared their own separate states in Luhansk and a second rebel-held city of Donetsk.
The trucks rumbled along the one-lane highway toward the regional capital of Luhansk, which has been the site of heavy fighting between the separatists and the Ukrainian military The trucks passed a sign indicating 55 kilometers, or about 34 miles, to Luhansk; 143 miles to the bigger rebel stronghold of Donetsk; and 267 miles to Kharkiv, a city in a region that is now under government control. Andriy Lysenko, Ukraine’s military spokesman, speaking at a news conference in Kiev, warned that Ukraine had no responsibility for the safety of Russian trucks traveling in rebel-controlled territory. But he did not repeat threats he made last week to block any Russian entry that violated agreements between Moscow and Kiev.
The trucks also rolled past an orange-and-black flag, the colors of St. George, a symbol of Russian solidarity. The trucks were driven by men wearing plain beige T-shirts and shorts who had been shown repeatedly on television in recent days waiting with their parked vehicles on the Russian side of the border for clearance to cross into Ukraine. “This is a provocation,” Colonel Lysenko said. “They expect us to attack the convoy.” He added that Ukrainian forces would allow the convoy to reach Luhansk because “it is easy to shoot but the consequences would be very destructive.” He said Ukraine would adopt a different approach if it turned out that, after reaching Luhansk, the “convoy “has other equipment not just humanitarian aid.”
The move comes before what is expected to be several days of high-level diplomatic maneuvering to try to find a political resolution to the crisis in Ukraine. The government in Kiev is pushing to crush the rebels with military force, perhaps confining them to one last stronghold in the city of Donetsk and then offering an escape corridor toward Russia. Under the arrangements agreed to between the two countries, Red Cross officials were to escort the trucks to Luhansk, near the Russian border, but they decided not to proceed after heavy shelling around the city during the night, Ewan Watson, a spokesman for the International Committee of the Red Cross, said in Geneva.
On Saturday, the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, is due to visit Kiev and meet with leaders there including President Petro O. Poroshenko. On Tuesday, Mr. Poroshenko and other leaders of former Soviet republics, including Mr. Putin, are due to meet in Minsk, Belarus. The main highway from the border crossing at Izvaryne to Luhansk has seen heavy fighting over the past week, as Ukrainian forces pressed their military campaign against the pro-Russian separatists. The rebel forces have been driven out of a string of towns and villages but are still holding out in Luhansk and Donetsk.
The Russian foreign ministry accused the Ukrainian government of stalling the convoy to avoid halting its military offensive and as part of a push to seize the cities of Luhansk and Donetsk before Sunday, which is Ukraine’s Independence Day. It accused the Ukrainian government of trying to kill or expel people in need of assistance. Ukraine charged that the arrival of Russian trucks without escorts from the International Committee of the Red Cross broke an understanding that the representatives of the Geneva-based organization would accompany the Russian aid on Ukrainian territory.
“There is a hardening feeling that the current leadership of Ukraine is deliberately delaying the humanitarian aid in order to get to the moment when no one needs this aid anymore,” the statement said. “Probably their calculation is to achieve this result ahead of the meeting scheduled in Minsk for Aug. 26.” The Red Cross had earlier agreed to oversee delivery of the aid and had been part of the protracted negotiations between the Russian and Ukrainian governments. There were no signs of Russian military vehicles or any other indications of an armed escort by Russian troops.
The United States and its European allies have warned that any crossing of the border by Russian military vehicles, even under the pretext of protecting the aid convoy, would be regarded as an invasion.
Several dozen trucks, from a convoy of about 270, crossed the border in the conflict-torn region of Luhansk shortly after noon. Soldiers carrying automatic rifles and wearing camouflage, some bearing the markings of the rebel fighters in eastern Ukraine, cleared the road of cars and people to let the convoy move past.
Many of the remaining trucks in the Russian convoy later followed, including support vehicles carrying mechancs, tools and first aid. Four trucks carrying gas did not cross into Ukraine.
The initial group of trucks traveled about 10 miles to the eastern Ukrainian city of Krasnodon where they appeared to change course to take smaller roads, presumably to avoid areas of continuing fighting or narrow highway checkpoints.
In its statement, the Russian Foreign Ministry made clear that the Kremlin had decided on its own to send the convoy forward. Ukraine had for days stalled the convoy by delaying the start of inspections by its customs and border officials on the grounds that Moscow had not provided the necessary documentation to the Red Cross.
“All the excuses to delay the delivery of aid to people in the area of a humanitarian catastrophe are exhausted,” the Foreign Ministry said. “The Russian side has made a decision to act. Our column with humanitarian cargo starts moving toward Luhansk.”
The first inspections started Thursday night with 34 trucks undergoing examination by Ukrainian officials on the Russian side of the border, Ukrainian officials said.
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry issued a statement accusing the Russians of “ignoring the established international rules, procedures and agreements reached with the consent and support of the International Committee of the Red Cross” and said that Russia was “smuggling humanitarian aid to Ukraine.”