Ukraine’s military responded quickly, saying that Putin’s call for an exit corridor for encircled Ukrainian troops showed that the separatists are “led and controlled directly from the Kremlin.” Instead, he praised the separatists as “insurgents” who had undermined “Kiev’s military operation, which threatened lives of the residents of Donbas and has already led to a colossal death toll among civilians” - a reference to the eastern Ukrainian region known as the Donets Basin, or Donbas, whose unofficial capital is rebel-held Donetsk. Putin did not answer accusations by the Ukrainian government and the West about Russia’s military presence in southeastern Ukraine. Lysenko said the Ukrainian army, after retreating from the southeastern coastal town of Novoazovsk, was ready to defend the key port city of Mariupol, about 28 miles farther west on the Sea of Azov. We’re just trying to liberate Ukrainian lands.”
“I assure you that on our shells we won’t have any messages like ‘to Moscow’ or ‘on to Moscow,’ ” Lysenko said. He said the force includes tanks bearing inscriptions such as “We are going to Kiev.” Andriy Lysenko, told reporters that Russia continues to send troops and materiel across the border. Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said Friday that Ukraine may seek to join NATO, announcing the submission of a bill to parliament that would repeal the country’s “non-bloc status,” the Interfax news agency reported.Ī Ukrainian military spokesman, Col. The double-edged statement - couched as a humanitarian gesture but perhaps aimed at helping the rebels consolidate control - came a day after the government in Kiev said Russian soldiers, tanks and heavy artillery had begun rolling into the region to help the separatists reverse recent Ukrainian military gains. To release Ukrainian soldiers trapped since Monday in the southeastern town of Ilyovaisk. In a statement published on the Kremlin’s Web site early Friday, Putin also urged the separatists MOSCOW - Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday hailed pro-Moscow separatists in eastern Ukraine as “insurgents” battling an army that he likened to Nazi invaders during World War II, and the Ukrainian government raised the prospect of joining NATO as it seeks help to repel what it calls an outright Russian military invasion.
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