Ukraine Accuses Russia of 'Invasion' as Aid Trucks Move in

The West on Friday blasted Moscow for unilaterally sending a controversial aid convoy to east Ukraine's rebel-held Lugansk in a move Kiev decried as an "invasion."

The European Union said it "deplored" Russia's decision to order in the convoy, which local officials said had begun arriving in Lugansk, without consent and called on Moscow to withdraw the trucks.

Meanwhile, the U.N. Security Council was to hold snap consultations on the issue later Friday and NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen called Moscow's decision an escalation of the Ukraine crisis that "can only lead to Russia's further isolation."

The U.S. called on Moscow to "immediately" withdraw the convoy. "Failure to do so will result in additional costs and isolation," Pentagon spokesman Rear Admiral John Kirby told reporters.

Russian President Vladimir Putin however said further delay of Moscow's mission would have been "unacceptable" as he justified the decision in a phone conversation with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who travels to Kiev Saturday for talks with Ukraine's leadership.

An official in Lugansk confirmed some 20 trucks had reached the center of the city, which has been without water and power for weeks, after making their way along a perilous route from the border.

Ukraine's security service head Valentyn Nalyvaychenko earlier condemned the entry as "a direct invasion" but said Ukraine will not order air strikes on the trucks.

Ukraine and Russia both said the other side was responsible for the convoy's security between the border and rebel bastion Lugansk 63 kilometers (40 miles) away, and Russia's foreign ministry warned "against any attempts to disrupt a totally humanitarian mission."

"We are doing everything in our power for this not to result in more serious consequences," Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said.

Russia has been pressing Ukraine to let its cargo reach residents in the stricken east Ukrainian city for over a week, but Kiev and the West fear the trucks could be used to bolster a flagging pro-Russian insurrection. 

Analysts said Moscow is under pressure from the Russian public to show support for the Russian-speaking separatist regions, but that its unannounced convoy gambit was a big risk.

"Now the chances of direct military confrontation between Russian and Ukrainian soldiers is substantially higher," said independent Moscow-based analyst Maria Lipman.

Moscow said it was ready to have Red Cross officials accompany the convoy, but the organization said it had backed out of the operation because of fierce fighting raging in the area where the trucks are heading.

"We are not part of the convoy in any way," Victoria Zotikova, the Red Cross spokeswoman in Moscow, told Agence France-Presse, adding that they have not received "sufficient security guarantees". 

Monitors from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe at the border said over 130 trucks had crossed by the afternoon. 

Nearly 300 trucks driven by men in identical beige clothes had been waiting for the green light to cross since arriving at the border over a week ago. 

Ukraine's border service said its officials were "blocked" at the Russian checkpoint as the convoy started rolling across the border and had not checked many of the trucks.

An AFP photographer said that the first vehicles to cross were met by an escort of rebels driving in minivans. 

After four months of fighting that has cost some 2,200 lives, Ukrainian forces have been steadily gaining ground with the separatists now surrounded in several key strongholds and street battles erupting in populated areas.

Both Kiev and Moscow appear to be trying to strengthen their positions ahead of a meeting between Poroshenko and Russian President Vladimir Putin next Tuesday in Minsk alongside top EU officials.

On Thursday, Poroshenko said his delegation was going to Minsk to "talk peace" but that he would stick to demands that pro-Russian fighters withdraw from east Ukraine.

The entry of the Russian convoy also exacerbates tensions ahead of a visit to Kiev Saturday Merkel in a show of support for Ukraine's pro-Western leaders. 

Kiev has accused Moscow of fueling the insurgency which erupted after Russia annexed Crimea in March, setting off the worst crisis between Russia and the West since the Cold War.

Kiev's security forces said Friday the military has made further gains, with the press service for the operation in the east reporting "considerable enemy losses."

But Kiev also said that pro-Russian rebels shot down a Ukrainian air force helicopter on Wednesday near Lugansk, killing the two-member crew.

Meanwhile, in the southwestern outskirts of the largest rebel-held city of Donetsk in Ukraine's industrial heartland, a separatist checkpoint was shelled on Friday by government forces nearby.

"We hid in a cellar," said Valentina, who was woken up by the blasts at 4:30 am. "It was really scary. Whoever did it, God will be their judge."