generalspeaking

Condemning Russia in Ukraine

And so you have it; in recent days the Russian military has been busy, while international attention has been riveted on Iraq and ISIS, on the humanitarian aid convoy of Russian trucks, until Friday when it was partially diverted back to Moscow's intervention in Ukraine. Artillery units manned by Russian personnel have appeared within Ukrainian territory, and they have been used to fire at Ukrainian forces, according to NATO officials.

Long suspected and accused of supporting separatist forces in eastern Ukraine by the West, this represents the first time NATO has declared itself in possession of clear evidence that the Russian military is operating within Ukrainian territory, representing an obvious and significant escalation of the Kremlin's involvement in the fighting it incited and continues to support. That, in tandem with the convoy of Russian trucks filled with humanitarian provisions crossing into Ukraine without the permission of Kyiv.

 

These actions have escalated tensions between the two neighbouring countries to the highest level since the Russian invasion of Crimea. Russia has repeatedly denied sending troops or military hardware into Ukraine, just as it denied any link to the unidentified gunmen who paved the way for Moscow’s annexation of Crimea — until President Putin casually stated in April that Russian troops were "of course" involved. Well, of course they were....!

 

Taking the sanctimonious initiative, Russia's permanent mission to NATO accused the alliance of ignoring the humanitarian crisis in eastern Ukraine, characterizing NATO's protests over the entry of a Russian aid convoy into Ukraine without the presence of Red Cross escorts as "another cynical attempt to cover the crimes of Ukrainian authorities", in a breath-taking demonstration of arrogant hypocrisy.

While Mr. Rasmussen did not specify the numbers or what type of Russian munitions had been moved into Ukraine, or where precisely they were located, one Western official declared the numbers of Russian-operated artillery units as "substantial". The statements by NATO are based on intelligence reports received from a number of alliance members, generally echoing Ukrainian claims of an expanded Russian military involvement supporting ethnic-Russian rebels.

Pentagon spokesman Rear Adm. John Kirby in condemning the convoy representing an "unauthorized entry into Ukraine", called for the immediate withdrawal of the vehicles. Without Red Cross escorts that Russia had agreed with, the Russian move caused angry accusations from Ukraine, underlining yet again Moscow breaking its word, mounting what Velentyn Nalyvaichenko, head of Ukraine's Security Service calls a "direct invasion."

The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated the crossing was authorized as a result of Kyiv's incapacity to reach a decision. "All the excuses to delay the delivery of aid to people in the area of a humanitarian catastrophe are exhausted. The Russian side has made a decision to act. Our column with humanitarian cargo starts moving toward Luhansk". The rebels there will be overjoyed at some relief from the Ukrainian military's successful advance.

The bullet-riddled body of the acting honorary consul for Lithuania, 39-year-old Mykola Zelenets, a Ukrainian national, was discovered Thursday in Luhansk. He had been abducted earlier in the month by armed separatists. Luhansk has come under heavy military fire from Ukrainian forces in recent days and the recapture of the city by Ukraine would present as a humiliation to Mr. Putin, facing calls from hard-line Russian nationalists to mount a decisive intervention to prevent defeat on the part of the ethnic-Russian secessionists.