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 Ukraine acknowledged on Monday that 311 soldiers and border guards
had been forced by fighting with separatists to cross into Russia.
It said they had destroyed their weapons before crossing the border,
but the rebels said they had left them behind, enabling separatists
to seize them.
"Today at about 6 a.m. (separatist) fighters treacherously fired on
a column in which there were 195 unarmed Ukrainian troops returning
from the Russian Federation," Andriy Lysenko, a spokesman for the
national defense council, told Interfax news agency. He had no
immediate word on casualties.
Government troops have been battling the rebels since April in a war
in the Russian-speaking east in which the United Nations High
Commissioner for Human Rights says more than 1,100 people including
government forces, rebels and civilians have died.
Ukraine accuses Russia of orchestrating the revolt and arming the
rebels - something denied by Moscow. The United States and the
European Union have imposed sanctions on Russia.
Fighting has intensified since the shooting down of a Malaysian
airliner last month, killing all 298 people on board - an act which
the West laid at the door of the rebels. Russia and the rebels blame
the disaster on Kiev's military offensive.
Ukrainian forces say they have been making steady gains and have
virtually encircled the separatists' second-largest stronghold of
Luhansk while rebels have declared a "state of siege" in Donetsk,
the largest city they hold.
Ukrainian fighters carried out air strikes on Monday night,
destroying concentrations of rebels and military equipment, Kiev's
military information center said, without giving details or casualty
estimates.
As the Ukrainian army recaptures more territory from the
separatists, Russia alarmed Kiev on Monday by announcing military
exercises near the long joint border.
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More than 100 aircraft, including fighter jets and bombers, would
take part in the maneuvers this week in the central and western
military districts, the Russian air forces said.
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry condemned the Russian move on Tuesday
and accused Moscow of continuing to arm the rebels.
"We categorically demand from the Russian side to put an end quickly
to such criminal actions (and) to pull its troops back from the
border with Ukraine," it said in a statement.
Ukrainian security officials said separatist fighters were launching
counter-attacks to break a tightening noose around their positions
while Ukrainians troops continued to come under mortar and artillery
shelling from inside Russian territory.
Russian military equipment and consignments of arms continued to
roll into Ukraine to supply the rebels, the Ukrainians said on
Tuesday, though Moscow denied it is providing support for the rebels
who seek to set up pro-Russian 'people's republics' in the east of
Ukraine.
Kiev's military information center said rebels holding the town of
Horlivka, about 100 km (60 miles) from the Russian border, were
massing men and equipment to try to break through government lines
which threaten to cut their main supply route from the east.
(Additional reporting by Pavel Polityuk; Editing by Paul Taylor)
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