Rising tensions could spill into open war

Escalating tensions between Russia and Ukraine are on the verge of spilling over into open conflict.

Ukraine has accused Moscow of pushing more military equipment over the border, including three missile systems.

Rebel separatists Russia is accused of arming yesterday shot down a Ukrainian Mig-29 fighter jet, although the pilot managed to eject safely.

High alert: Russian troops in Rostov, close to the border with Ukraine, as tensions escalated between the two countries

Troops: Photographs taken on Saturday night show Russian forces massed near the main Moscow-Rostov highway, some ten miles from the border with Ukraine

The rebels had earlier boasted they were receiving 150 armoured vehicles, including 30 tanks, and 1,200 soldiers who were ‘trained in Russia’.

Moscow continues to deny sending military equipment or personnel into Ukrainian territory, but large convoys have been seen massing on the Russian side of the border.

Meanwhile some 16 lorries from a 280-strong Russian convoy carrying humanitarian aid for eastern Ukraine arrived at a rebel-held border crossing yesterday. Kiev insists any aid should cross a government-controlled part of the border.

Burning buildings across Ukraine as crisis escalates

Volunteers take an oath of allegiance to Ukraine, before being sent to the eastern part of the country to join the ranks of a special battalion fighting against pro-Russian separatists

A Russian armored vehicle with servicemen atop on a road about 30km away from the Russia-Ukraine border. Meanwhile, pro-Russian separatists reportedly shot down a MiG-29 fighter jet in eastern Ukraine

Trucks forming part of an aid convoy destined for Ukraine travel on a road to the border. Russia and Ukraine have been at loggerheads for days over a convoy of 280 Russian trucks carrying water, food and medicine

Ukraine appears to be making progress in efforts to quell the rebellion.

More than 2,000 people have been killed since mid-April, when Ukraine’s government sent troops to put down an uprising by pro-Russian separatists in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

Ukrainian forces yesterday took back a police station in the city of Luhansk, which had been held by pro-Russian rebels since April.

Friends and relatives say goodbye to volunteers in Kiev before they are sent to the eastern part of Ukraine to join the ranks of a special battalion fighting against pro-Russian separatists

Drivers of a Russian aid convoy of white trucks stand at a checkpoint on the Russian-Ukrainian in border in Donetsk. The convoy has been parked at the border for several days

Credit to Dailymail.co.uk

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2727070/Ukraine-separatist-rebels-shoot-government-fighter-plane-eastern-Luhansk-region.html#ixzz3AkrCVF3n

Source: http://nunezreport.blogspot.com/2014/08/rising-tensions-could-spill-into-open.html