Ukraine says it destroyed Russian military vehicles that crossed border

Officials in Kiev on Friday said that Russian and Ukrainian soldiers exchanged gunfire and that government forces had partially destroyed Russian military vehicles that crossed into Ukraine overnight, events that appeared to signal a major military escalation between the two countries already at odds over contested territories.

Andriy Lysenko, a spokesman for the Ukrainian military, told a news briefing that government forces had spotted a Russian military column crossing the border under cover of darkness.

“Appropriate actions were undertaken and a part of it no longer exists,” Lysenko said.

However, Moscow denied its forces had crossed into Ukrainian territory and accused Kiev of trying to sabotage deliveries of aid and intensifying its fight against pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine.

Earlier on Friday, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said the alliance had witnessed a Russian incursion into Ukraine.

“It just confirms the fact that we see a continuous flow of weapons and fighters from Russia into eastern Ukraine and it is a clear demonstration of continued Russian involvement in the destabilization of eastern Ukraine,” said Rasmussen.

Kiev and its Western allies have repeatedly accused Russia of arming pro-Russia separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine, and of sending undercover military units across the border.

But evidence of Russian military vehicles captured or destroyed on Ukrainian territory would give extra force to Kiev's allegations — and possibly spark a new round of sanctions against the Kremlin.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko briefed British Prime Minister David Cameron on the incident and told him a “significant” part of the Russian column had been destroyed, according to a statement from Poroshenko's office.

Britain summoned Russia's ambassador to ask him to clarify reports of a military incursion into Ukraine, and European Union foreign ministers said any unilateral military actions by Russia in Ukraine would be a blatant violation of international law.

In a separate development on Friday, Ukrainian and Russian officials agreed to let the Red Cross distribute Russian-donated aid throughout the rebel-held city of Luhansk.

Kiev had previously said the humanitarian aid might be used as cover for a Russian military intervention, while Moscow has denied any ulterior motives. 

Al Jazeera and wire services