- NEW: Obama: The U.S. will join the European Union in implementing sanctions
- Russia has 1,000 soldiers and advanced military equipment in Ukraine, a NATO officer says
- Ceasefire in eastern Ukraine is "very fragile," Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman says
- He cites "mounting evidence" of Kiev government strengthening its military presence
(CNN) -- Russia still has about 1,000 troops inside eastern Ukraine, a NATO military officer said Thursday, a week after Ukraine's government and pro-Russian rebels agreed to a ceasefire aimed at ending months of conflict.
NATO also sees 20,000 more Russian troops aligned along the border, the NATO officer told CNN. He was not named according to standard practice in the organization.
NATO believes that these numbers amount to a large and effective military force, the officer said. In addition to the troop numbers, NATO continues to see sophisticated Russian military equipment in Ukraine.
NATO remains concerned and urges Russia to engage with the international community and Ukraine to find a political solution to the crisis, the officer said.
Moscow has consistently denied allegations by Kiev and the West that Russia has troops in Ukraine, and that it has armed and supported the rebels.
MH17 crash site abandoned amid fighting On Wednesday, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said some 70% of the Russian troops believed to have been in Ukraine had withdrawn back across the border, according to the national news agency Ukrinform.
Information released by Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council on Thursday indicated that the rebel forces control a strip of eastern Ukraine running from the city of Luhansk down to the Sea of Azov.
'Very fragile' ceasefire
The truce was signed Friday after talks in Minsk, Belarus, between representatives of Ukraine, the rebels and Russia.
Workers clear rubble Thursday, September 11, after the bombing of a mine in Donetsk, Ukraine. A fledgling truce between the Ukrainian government and pro-Russian rebels is already under threat, as both sides have accused the other of violating it. The fighting in the country has left more than 2,500 people dead since mid-April, according to the United Nations. 
A column of Ukrainian forces is seen in Volnovakha, Ukraine, on September 11. 
An elderly woman sits next to a Ukrainian soldier standing guard in Volnovakha on September 11. 
Armed pro-Russian rebels walk September 11 in front of the destroyed Luhansk International Airport in Luhansk, Ukraine. The rebels took control of the airport on September 1 after heavy fighting with the Ukrainian army. 
Residents of Lutuhyne, Ukraine, push containers in a wheelbarrow September 11 as they walk between destroyed armored vehicles left behind by the Ukrainian army. 
Ukrainian troops protect themselves from a nearby shooting in Debaltseve, Ukraine, on Tuesday, September 9. 
Young residents of Berdyansk, Ukraine, dig trenches September 9 to help Ukrainian forces protect the city from possible rebel attacks. 
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, left, inspects military personnel during a visit to Mariupol, Ukraine, on Monday, September 8. 
A pro-Russian rebel stands next to a truck with a heavy machine gun attached to it Sunday, September 7, in Donetsk. 
Homes smolder after being hit by shelling in Donetsk on September 7. 
A woman stands next to a road sign September 7 after an overnight bombing attack at an Ukrainian army checkpoint on the outskirts of Mariupol. 
Ukrainian troops stand on a deserted road as they patrol the border area of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions Friday, September 5, near Debaltseve. 
A man repairs damage to a building caused by shelling in Donetsk on September 5. 
Smoke rises on the outskirts of Mariupol after pro-Russian rebels fired heavy artillery on September 5. 
Ukrainian soldiers ride a tank on a road close to where pro-Russian rebels fired heavy artillery outside Mariupol on September 5. 
A wounded Ukrainian soldier is helped by a medical team on the outskirts of Mariupol on September 5. 
A pro-Russian rebel holds a destroyed weapon in the village of Novokaterynivka, Ukraine, on Thursday, September 4. 
Unmarked military vehicles burn on a country road in Berezove, Ukraine, on September 4 after a clash between Ukrainian troops and pro-Russian rebels. For months, Ukrainian government forces have been fighting the rebels near Ukraine's eastern border with Russia. 
People wait by their cars near Berezove on September 4 as rockets hit the road ahead. 
A pro-Russian rebel holds a dog, which has a hand grenade attached to its leash, in Donetsk on Wednesday, September 3. 
Pro-Russian rebels fire at Ukrainian army positions in Donetsk on September 3. 
A Ukrainian military vehicle patrols in the Donetsk region on September 3. 
Pro-Russian rebels hold a man near a column of destroyed Ukrainian military vehicles in Novokaterynivka on Tuesday, September 2. 
A Ukrainian military truck passes by a serviceman resting in his military camp in Ukraine's Donetsk region on September 2. 
A destroyed Ukrainian military vehicle sits abandoned on the side of the road near Novokaterynivka on September 2. 
Men clear rubble in Ilovaisk, Ukraine, on Sunday, August 31. 
Ukrainian troops leave the rebel-held town of Starobesheve on Saturday, August 30. 
A Ukrainian loyalist fighter from the Azov Battalion stands guard on a hill on the outskirts of Mariupol on August 30. 
A pro-Russian rebel listens to the news on a transistor radio in the town of Novoazovsk, Ukraine, on Friday, August 29. 
Ukrainian soldiers stop on a roadside as they wait for the start of their march into Mariupol on Wednesday, August 27. 
A man opens a box filled with rocket-propelled grenades left by the Ukrainian army in Starobesheve. 
A pro-Russian rebel walks through a local market damaged by shelling in Donetsk on Tuesday, August 26. 
Ukrainian servicemen of the volunteer battalion Azov leave for Novoazovsk on August 26. 
Pro-Russian rebels escort captured Ukrainian soldiers in a central square in Donetsk on Sunday, August 24. 
People yell as Ukrainian prisoners are paraded through Donetsk in eastern Ukraine on August 24. 
A pro-Russian rebel delivers a speech atop a damaged Ukrainian armored personnel carrier in Donetsk on August 24. 
People look at damaged Ukrainian military equipment in Donetsk on August 24. 
The first trucks of a Russian aid convoy roll on the main road to Luhansk in eastern Ukraine on Friday, August 22. The head of Ukraine's security service called the convoy a "direct invasion" under the guise of humanitarian aid since it entered the country without Red Cross monitors. 
A pro-Russian rebel holds shrapnel from a rocket after shelling in Donetsk on August 22. 
Residents sit in a makeshift bomb shelter during a shelling in Makiyivka, Ukraine, on Wednesday, August 20. 
Dogs play together as a Russian convoy carrying aid supplies stops at a border control point with Ukraine, in the Russian town of Donetsk, on August 20. 
Ukrainian forces take their position not far from Luhansk, Ukraine, on August 20. 
Clouds of smoke are on the horizon as Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian rebels clash in Yasynuvata, a suburb of Donetsk, Ukraine, on Tuesday, August 19. 
An Ukrainian helicopter flies near Kramatorsk, Ukraine, on August 19. 
Ukrainian soldiers load a missile during fighting with pro-Russian rebels Monday, August 18, near Luhansk. 
Boys play at a refugee camp, set up by the Russian Emergencies Ministry, near the Russian-Ukrainian border on August 18. 
Ukrainian soldiers carry weapons at a checkpoint near Debaltseve, Ukraine, on Saturday, August 16. 
Pro-Russian rebels greet each other as they pass near Krasnodon, Ukraine, on August 16. 
A fireman tries to extinguish a fire after shelling in Donetsk on August 16. 
Ukrainian border guards patrol near Novoazovsk on Friday, August 15. 
Trucks of a Russian humanitarian convoy are parked in a field outside the town of Kamensk-Shakhtinsky, in the Rostov region of Russia about 20 miles from the Ukraine border, on August 15. Ukrainian officials were preparing to inspect the convoy, which was bound for the conflict-torn east. 
A truck driver from the convoy jumps out of a trailer on August 15. The Ukrainian government had expressed fears that the convoy was a large-scale effort to smuggle supplies or troops to pro-Russian rebels. 
A tank belonging to pro-Russian rebels moves along a street in Donetsk on August 15. 
A Ukrainian soldier walks past a line of self-propelled guns as a column of military vehicles prepares to head to the front line near Ilovaisk, Ukraine, on Thursday, August 14. 
A Ukrainian soldier prepares a mortar at a position near Ilovaisk on August 14. 
A man inspects damage at his house after a shelling in Donetsk on August 14. 
A convoy of trucks, which Moscow said was carrying relief goods for war-weary civilians, moves from Voronezh, Russia, toward Rostov-on-Don, Russia, on August 14. 
Pro-Russian rebels on the outskirts of Donetsk stand at a checkpoint near a bullet-riddled bus on Wednesday, August 13. 
A pro-Russian rebel inspects damage after shelling in Donetsk on Thursday, August 7. 
Smoke billows from a Ukrainian fighter jet crash near the village of Zhdanivka, Ukraine, on August 7. 
Residents of eastern Ukraine cry in a hospital basement being used as a bomb shelter August 7 in Donetsk. 
Ordnance from a Ukrainian rocket launcher shoots toward a pro-Russian militant position in the Donetsk region on August 7. 
Relatives of Ukrainian military member Kyril Andrienko, who died in combat in eastern Ukraine, gather during his funeral in Lviv, Ukraine, on August 7. 
Refugees from southeastern Ukraine wait at a refugee camp in Donetsk on Wednesday, August 6. 
A pro-Russian rebel adjusts his weapon in Donetsk on August 6. 
Men walk past a bomb crater in Donetsk on August 6. 
A man steps out of his car as Ukrainian soldiers inspect the vehicle at a checkpoint in Debaltseve on August 6. 
Ukrainian servicemen sit on a bus near Slovyansk, Ukraine, on Tuesday, August 5. 
A pro-Russian separatist guards a road as Australian, Malaysian and Dutch investigators prepare to examine the crash site of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 near the village of Rossipne, Ukraine, on August 5. U.S. and Ukrainian officials allege that a Russian-made missile shot down the plane from rebel-held territory, killing all 298 people on board. Russia and the rebel fighters deny involvement. 
Rescue workers carry the body of a woman who was killed during a bomb shelling in Donetsk on August 5. 
A boy stands in a hallway of a refugee hostel run by pro-Russian rebels in Donetsk on Monday, August 4. 
Ukrainian servicemen from the Donbass volunteer battalion clean their guns Sunday, August 3, in Popasna, Ukraine. 
Ukrainian soldiers fire shells toward rebel positions near Pervomaysk, Ukraine, on Saturday, August 2. 
Ukrainian troops patrol near the village of Novoselovka on Thursday, July 31. 
A woman says goodbye to her mother as she flees her home in Shakhtersk, Ukraine, on Tuesday, July 29. See more photos of the crisis from earlier this year Photos: Crisis in Ukraine But more substantive talks on issues, including the decentralization of power and constitutional reform in Ukraine, must still take place before a lasting resolution can be found.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Aleksandr Lukashevich told a briefing Thursday that the ceasefire was "very fragile" and that both sides must implement the framework agreed to in Minsk.
"There is mounting evidence of the Kiev government strengthening its military groups in different areas, regions; there are eyewitness reports to prove it," he said, "though Ukrainian authorities keep on reassuring us that they're not planning a military operation."
Lukashevich said Russia was also surprised by NATO's announcement of plans to hold joint military exercises with Kiev in Ukraine later this year.
"This might cause the escalation (of the situation) and put the progress in peaceful settlement of the crisis in Ukraine under threat," he warned.
New sanctions
A new round of European Union sanctions against Russia over its actions in Ukraine will come into force Friday, European Council President Herman Van Rompuy said Thursday.
EU officials will review the implementation of the ceasefire before the end of the month, he said, after which the sanctions could be amended or lifted.
The sanctions include tougher restrictions on Russia's access to EU capital markets; a ban on loans by EU companies or individuals to five major Russian state-owned banks; a ban on debt financing to three major Russian defense companies and three major energy companies; and an asset freeze and travel ban against 24 more individuals.
This means 119 people in total are now subject to sanctions, while 23 entities remain under an asset freeze in the European Union.
Russia has warned it will respond to any additional measures.
In his remarks, Lukashevich said the deadly crash in July of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 -- which Kiev and the West believe was shot down from rebel-held territory using a Russian-made missile launcher -- was being used to justify the imposition of broad Western sanctions against Russia.
A preliminary report into the crash released this week by Dutch investigators did not apportion blame for the crash but said the plane was brought down by "high-energy objects" from outside.
The United States will join the European Union in implementing additional sanctions against Russia over its "illegal actions in Ukraine," President Obama said Thursday. "We will deepen and broaden sanctions in Russia's financial, energy, and defense sectors," he said. The administration will outline the specifics of the sanctions Friday.
"We are implementing these new measures in light of Russia's actions to further destabilize Ukraine over the last month, including through the presence of heavily armed Russian forces in eastern Ukraine. We are watching closely developments since the announcement of the ceasefire and agreement in Minsk, but we have yet to see conclusive evidence that Russia has ceased its efforts to destabilize Ukraine," Obama said.
Aid convoy
Lukashevich also said there had not yet been a "breakthrough" allowing a new Russian aid convoy to start moving into Ukraine in the next few days.
"We hope that the delivery will be carried out with participation of Ukraine's border guards and customs officers as well as officials from the International Committee of the Red Cross," he said. "We hope, however, that the coordination would not be dragged out."
A previous convoy carrying aid for civilians caught up in the fighting in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions was sent over the border by Russia without permission from Ukrainian authorities.
The Presidents of Russia and Ukraine are "broadly satisfied" with the status of the ceasefire, Kremlin foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov told Russia's Interfax news agency on Wednesday.
CNN's Andrew Carey in Kiev and Alla Eshchenko in Moscow contributed to this report. CNN's James Frater also contributed.
No comments:
Post a Comment