Report: Russian Tanks Cross Ukrainian Border
Ukraine’s military reports of Russian armored columns moving across the border and into South-Eastern Ukraine to assist separatist and Spetznaz.
Update (11/12/2014): Observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) reported on Tuesday seeing a convoy of an unknown amount of tanks, 43 unmarked military trucks, five towing Howitzer heavy artillery pieces, and another five multilaunch rocket systems — traveling into the rebel stronghold of Donetsk.
“Across the last two days we have seen the same thing that OSCE is reporting. We have seen columns of Russian equipment, primarily Russian tanks, Russian artillery, Russian air defense systems, and Russian combat troops entering into Ukraine,” — NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) and Commander of U.S. European Command, Phillip Breedlove
The Ukrainian military told reporters Monday a group of Russian forces, disguised as separatist rebels, had crossed into south-east Ukraine with ten tanks, two armored infantry vehicles, and self propelled artillery pieces aiming to open a new front in the separatist war.
“This morning there was an attempt by the Russian military in the guise of Donbas fighters to open a new area of military confrontation in the southern Donetsk region,” spokesman Andriy Lysenko told journalists.
This movement comes on the heels of the Russians advising the U.S. to encourage Ukraine’s military campaign in the East to be halted after Ukrainian forces successfully surrounded rebel strongholds. The Ukrainian military also claims they have destroyed several columns in skirmishes that ensued shortly after their crossing and that fighting was still underway.
“We have observed columns passing with armoured personnel carriers, other armoured vehicles and artillery pieces, and tanks which, according to our information, came across the border and this morning were in Snizhnye,” Ukrainian Interior Minister Arseny Avakov told reporters in Kiev.
If Ukraine’s military is correct, and tanks are flowing in from Russia, will mark a serious escalation of the crises. Though Ukraine has cried wolf once or twice before, but Russia's military activities near its border makes this now look unlikely.
These reports from the Ukrainian military and press have not been verified by the U.S. or NATO. There is a possibility it could be separatist and Spetznaz raiding abandoned Ukrainian military bases and seizing tanks and APC’s but that now seems improbable . Below is video evidence taken by a local Ukrainian.