Russian directly involved in Ukraine battles?

[Bleipriester]

Exercising Russian artillery
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The U.S. and the Ukraine accused Russia of shelling Ukrainian troops from Russian soil. Furthermore, Russia is accused of delivering heavy weaponry to the separatists. Russia, however, denied that and said that Ukrainian troops fired with motars at Russia.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko told U.S. Vice President Joe Biden in a telephone conversation Friday that Ukrainian troops are increasingly coming under direct fire from the Russian side of the border, according to a White House statement.

Warren also corroborated Ukrainian reports of artillery fire from Russia. He said there was no indication Ukraine had shelled Russia. "For the last several days Russian forces using Russian artillery from Russian soil have conducted attacks against Ukrainian military positions in Ukraine," Warren said. "This is unquestionably an escalation from a military perspective."

Russia's Foreign Ministry responded to U.S. allegations about cross-border shelling by saying: "Facts and details to confirm these lying contentions do not exist."

U.S. officials said this week that they had new evidence that Russia intended to deliver heavier and more powerful multiple rocket launchers to the separatists. Warren said Friday that the delivery could happen at any time, adding "it's that close" to the border.

In addition, Col. Steve Warren, a Pentagon spokesman, said that the U.S. has seen powerful rocket systems moving closer to the Ukraine border and that they could be put into the hands of the Russian-backed separatists as soon as Friday.

Douglas Lute, U.S. ambassador to NATO, accused Russia of waging "civil war by proxy" in Ukraine and said the Russians have about 15,000 troops massed near the border. He spoke at a security forum in Aspen, Colorado.

Russia said a group of its investigators came under Ukrainian mortar fire Friday in the Russian village of Primiussky. They were investigating the reported shelling two days earlier of the village, which is about 2.5 kilometers (1.2 miles) from the border. No deaths were reported.


In another development, CNN said pro-Russian rebels abducted one of its local freelancers on Tuesday outside the separatist-controlled city of Donetsk and was still holding him on Friday. Anton Skiba had worked for the network for only a day when he was seized as he and other members of a CNN crew returned to their hotel from the jetliner crash site.
CNN said the abductors first accused Skiba of "terrorism" and of using his Facebook page to post cash rewards for killing separatists. Later they dropped that accusation and said he was being questioned for using identification with different last names. Later they said he had confessed to being a Ukrainian "agent."


US: Russia is firing across border into Ukraine - Europe news