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 It was not clear how the government in Kiev would react to the
offer, suggested first by Russian President Vladimir Putin, but the
first word from the Ukrainian military was negative.
It said in a statement that Putin's call showed only that "these
people (the separatists) are led and controlled directly from the
Kremlin".
Kiev has accused Russian troops of illegally entering eastern
Ukraine and, backed by its U.S. and European allies, has said it
will fight to defend its soil.
Russia stands accused of pushing troops and weapons into the former
Soviet republic to shore up a separatist rebellion that a week ago
appeared to be on its last legs. That development has sharply
escalated the five-month conflict over eastern Ukraine.
In his late-night statement, released by the Kremlin, Putin adopted
a softer tone, though without acknowledging that Russia's military
is involved in the conflict.
"It is clear that the rebellion has achieved some serious successes
in stopping the armed operation by Kiev," Putin was quoted as saying
in the statement.
"I call on the militia forces to open a humanitarian corridor for
encircled Ukraine servicemen in order to avoid pointless victims, to
allow them to leave the fighting area without impediment, join their
families ... to provide urgent medical aid to those wounded as a
result of the military operation."
Hours later, Alexander Zakharchenko, leader of the main rebel entity
in eastern Ukraine, told a Russian television station his forces
were ready to let the encircled Ukrainian troops pull out.
He said they would have to leave behind their heavy armored vehicles
and ammunition.
RUSSIAN TROOPS
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko called an urgent meeting of
security chiefs late on Thursday to work out how to respond to rapid
advances made by rebels in the south of the Donetsk region of
eastern Ukraine.
He told the meeting that the situation was "extraordinarily
difficult ... but controllable" after Russian-backed rebels seized
the town of Novoazovsk in the southeast, on the shore of the Azov
Sea.
Earlier Poroshenko said he had canceled a visit to Turkey because of
the "rapidly deteriorating situation" in the eastern Donetsk region,
"as Russian troops have actually been brought into Ukraine".
In comments overnight, Ukrainian Defence Minister Valery Heletey
accused Russia of giving "a criminal order" sending paratroopers and
military equipment into Ukraine.
Many Russian soldiers had been captured and many killed, he said.
"Unfortunately, they have been buried simply under building rubbish.
We are trying to find their bodies to return them to their mothers
for burial," Heletey said.
Russia's defense ministry again denied the presence of its soldiers
in Ukraine, using language redolent of the Cold War.
"We have noticed the launch of this informational 'canard' and are
obliged to disappoint its overseas authors and their few apologists
in Russia," a ministry official, General-Major Igor Konashenkov,
told Interfax news agency. "The information contained in this
material bears no relation to reality."
But some skeptical Western governments appeared to be running out of
patience with Moscow's denials.
Referring to talks that Putin held with Poroshenko just two days
ago, British Prime Minister David Cameron said: "It is simply not
enough to engage in talks in Minsk, while Russian tanks continue to
roll over the border into Ukraine. Such activity must cease
immediately."
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Poland's foreign minister said Russian "aggression" had created the
most serious security crisis in Europe for decades. A top NATO
official said Russia had significantly escalated its "military
interference" in Ukraine in the past two weeks.
"We assess well over 1,000 Russian troops are now operating inside
Ukraine," said Dutch Brigadier-General Nico Tak, head of NATO's
crisis management center. "They are supporting separatists (and)
fighting with them." The United States and European Union have
imposed sanctions on Moscow, and both Russia and NATO have stepped
up military exercises, creating the tensest East-West standoff since
the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991.
The United States is considering a number of options in response to
Russian involvement in eastern Ukraine and believes increasing
sanctions are the "most effective tool", U.S. State Department
spokeswoman Jean Osaki said.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said an EU summit at the weekend
would discuss the possibility of further sanctions.
DUST-COVERED COLUMN
In southern Russia on Thursday, a Reuters reporter saw a column of
armored vehicles and dust-covered troops, one of them with a face
injury, about 3 km (2 miles) from the border with the part of
Ukraine that Kiev says is occupied by Russian troops.
The column was driving east, away from the border, across open
countryside near the village of Krasnoyarsk, in Russia's Ros region.
None of the men or vehicles had standard military identification
marks, but the reporter saw a Mi-8 helicopter with a red star
insignia -- consistent with Russian military markings -- land next
to a nearby military first-aid tent.
Asked if he was with the Russian military, a man near the tent in
camouflage fatigues but without any identifying insignia, said only:
"We are patriots."
The U.S. ambassador to Kiev, Geoffrey Pratt, tweeted: "Russian
supplied tanks, armored vehicles, artillery and multiple rocket
launchers have been insufficient to defeat Ukraine' armed forces. So
now an increasing number of Russian troops are intervening directly
in fighting on Ukrainian territory.
"Russia has also sent its newest air defense systems including the
SA-22 into eastern Ukraine & is now directly involved in the
fighting," he said.
Fighting in the east erupted in April, a month after Russia annexed
Ukraine's Crimean peninsula in response to the toppling of a
pro-Moscow president in Kiev.
A United Nations report this week said more than 2,200 people have
been killed, not including the 298 who died when a Malaysian
airliner was shot down over rebel-held territory in July.
(Additional reporting by Maria Tsvetkova, Anton Zverev, Gabriela
Baczynska, Polina Devitt, Vladimir Soldatkin and Thomas Grove,
Adrian Croft, Andreas Rinke and Pavel Polityuk; Writing by Christian
Lowe and Richard Balmforth; Editing by Will Waterman)
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