Ukraine Accuses Russia of 'Direct Invasion,' Moscow Denies

Ukraine's ambassador to the OSCE accused Russia Thursday of a "direct invasion" but Moscow's envoy denied reports that Russian troops were active in the conflict-torn east of the country.

"We registered a direct invasion by the Russian military into the eastern regions of Ukraine," Kiev's envoy Ihor Prokopchuk told journalists following a special meeting of the European security body to discuss the latest developments in Ukraine.

"The situation has significantly aggravated," he said in English, citing the capture "by regular Russian forces" of the key southeastern town of Novoazovsk and several other surrounding towns.

He described Russia's latest moves as a repeat of its strategy in the Crimean peninsula, which Moscow annexed from Ukraine in March after initially denying its troops were there.

"It is the same scenario that is played out now in the eastern part of Ukraine... The scenario was tested in Crimea and what we witness today is the invasion and direct entry of Russian forces into the eastern part of Ukraine."

A senior NATO official also said on Thursday that "well over a thousand" Russian troops were operating inside Ukraine.

"They support separatists, fighting with them and fighting amongst them," the official said on condition of anonymity, adding that the supply of arms by Russia had increased in both "volume and quality".

The official, who was speaking to reporters ahead of a NATO summit next week in Britain, said the situation was made even more worrying because the key route between Donetsk and Novoazovsk, on the Sea of Azov close to the Russian border, had been cut off by pro-Kremlin forces.

"The supply line is cut" for the Ukrainian army, he said.

The official warned that the latest events in Ukraine "have made clear that the security paradigm in Europe has fundamentally changed" in the face of a "very aggressive Russia".

He said the past weeks have seen a "real upsurge in Russia's activity" in the flashpoint region, including the supply of weapons, ammunition, special forces training, intelligence and logistical support.

"All this has been systematically denied, adding confusion," he said.

Ambassadors to NATO will hold an emergency meeting in Brussels on Friday morning to discuss the aforementioned reports, a diplomatic source said.

The meeting of the 28 ambassadors will take place at NATO headquarters at 0700 GMT and will be followed by talks with an envoy to the alliance from Ukraine, the source said on Thursday

But Russia's ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, Andrey Kelin, insisted however that no active Russian military personnel had crossed the border into the former Soviet state.

"There are no Russian soldiers" in eastern Ukraine, he said.

"There is only one unit of Russian soldiers as they unintentionally crossed the border a couple days ago," he said, referring to 10 paratroopers that Kiev said it had captured on Tuesday.

And Russia's defense ministry later on Thursday denied U.S. and Kiev claims of its troops' direct involvement in the escalating fighting between Ukrainian forces and pro-Kremlin insurgents in the separatist east.

Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov told Russian news agencies that the "information has no relation to reality" and that army units believed by Washington to have crossed into Ukraine were conducting "tactical training exercises on their own and outlying ranges."

The defense ministry spokesman said Russian army and paratrooper forces "were indeed capable of successfully performing assignments associated with the armed protection of the country's territorial inviolability."

He added that Russia's ongoing series of training missions in regions that include those near Ukraine "were the normal work of any army".

Also on Thursday, Ukraine said its forces had clashed with a reconnaissance group that had entered its territory from the Russian-controlled Crimean peninsula.

The National Security and Defense Council said the fighting had flared Wednesday in the Kherson region of Ukraine just north of Crimea, and accused the Russian military of "establishing positions" nearby in the peninsula.

The claims sparked fears that Moscow could be plotting an offensive towards the Black Sea peninsula after Kiev accused Russian troops of seizing territory along Ukraine's eastern border, some 450 kilometers (280 miles away).

Crimea, which Russia annexed in March in the face of Western outrage, straddles the Azov and Black seas and is connected by a narrow strip of land with Ukraine's Kherson region.

"On Wednesday evening border guards from... Kherson's Chervoniy Chaban (village) department engaged in a battle with a reconnaissance group from the territory of Crimea," a statement from the security council said.

"Border guards held their positions and forced the scouts to return to the peninsula," it said.

Earlier this week three Russian airforce helicopters ventured some 500 meters from Crimea into Ukrainian-held territory, Kiev said.

Ukrainian security spokesman Andriy Lysenko also said the Russian military was "establishing positions" in the north of the peninsula.

"There is information being distributed among the local population of the possibility of military actions," he said on Wednesday.

Russia annexed Crimea in March after deploying troops to take over Ukrainian military bases and oversee a disputed referendum that saw residents vote to join Moscow rule.

Russia now fully controls the peninsula after the Ukrainian military and navy withdrew from the region without a fight.

Ukraine's Kherson region has not seen any fighting since the conflict between pro-Russian rebels and government forces erupted in eastern Ukraine in April.

Crimea is connected to Russia only by an overloaded ferry link, and a planned bridge is likely to take years and cost billions of dollars.

Crimea's vehemently pro-Kremlin deputy governor Rustam Temirgaliyev fueled concerns that the fighting at the border could now spread west towards the peninsula.

Temirgaliyev wrote on his Facebook page on Thursday that after capturing Novoazovsk the rebel offensive would continue along the coast toward Crimea through the port cities of Mariupol and Berdyansk.

Commenting on the latest developments, the European Union said it was "extremely concerned" by reports of an incursion by Russian troops into Ukraine.

"We are extremely concerned by the latest developments, including reports on what is happening on the ground," Maja Kocijancic, spokeswoman for EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, said at a news conference.

"We repeat our call on Russia to put an end to any form of border hostility and this obviously includes the flow of arms and military personnel into Ukraine," she said.

She said there was an urgent need for a political solution to the crisis on the eastern edge of the European Union.

Kocijancic said EU leaders would discuss the developments in Ukraine at a summit on Saturday that is primarily tasked with filling top EU jobs, including the successor for Ashton.

Immediately preceding the summit Saturday, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko will meet European Commission head Jose Manuel Barroso in Brussels, as well as EU President Herman Van Rompuy.

EU foreign ministers are also meeting Friday and Saturday in Milan for an informal meeting where the Ukrainian crisis will be discussed at length, Kocijancic said.

Ashton attended a summit in Minsk on Tuesday which was attended by both Poroshenko and Russian President Vladimir Putin, where the leaders failed to reach a breakthrough towards defusing the crisis.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that European leaders will discuss the worsening Ukraine crisis and possible further sanctions against Russia.

"We have received reports of an increased presence of Russian soldiers and new unrest and advances by separatists in previously very quiet areas" of Ukraine, Merkel said.

Speaking to the media after a Berlin meeting with Balkan leaders, she said the Ukraine crisis "will be on the agenda of the council, and we will just have to ask 'how will we react?'"

"I want to say again... we want a diplomatic solution, and we will not let up on this, but we have to acknowledge that things have become more difficult and worsened again in recent days."

Italy's Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, whose country currently holds the rotating EU presidency, called Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday to warn of "very serious consequences" after reports that Moscow had sent troops into Ukraine.

And British Prime Minister David Cameron warned Russia that it faces "further consequences" following reports that Moscow had sent troops into eastern Ukraine, which he said would be "completely unacceptable and illegal".

"We urge Russia to pursue a different path and to find a political solution to this crisis. If Russia does not, then she should be in no doubt that there will be further consequences," Cameron said in a statement.

"President Putin has said that Russia is willing to find a peaceful solution to the conflict but this is not credible when Russia is supporting pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine with arms and troops," Cameron said.

"It is simply not enough to engage in talks in Minsk, while Russian tanks continue to roll over the border into Ukraine," he said, referring to talks this week between Putin and Poroshenko.

"Russia will be asked to explain why it has its troops inside Ukraine," said British Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant, whose country holds the presidency of the Security Council.

"It's very clear that Russian regular troops are now in Ukraine."

Lithuania, meanwhile, also accused Russia of a military "invasion" of conflict-torn Ukraine and called for a United Nations Security Council meeting over the issue.

"Lithuania strongly condemns the obvious invasion of the territory of Ukraine by the armed forces of the Russian Federation," the foreign ministry said in a statement.

"Lithuania urges the U.N. Security Council to discuss this matter immediately."

The Baltic nation, which is a temporary member of the council, called on Russia "to immediately withdraw its military forces, weaponry and equipment from the sovereign territory of Ukraine".

Moscow has repeatedly denied Western allegations that it is sending troops into eastern Ukraine, where government forces have been battling pro-Russian separatists in a now four-month-long conflict.

But Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius told Agence France Presse on Thursday that "it is aggression and undeclared war, despite denials".

"Facts and NATO intelligence information make the denials less and less convincing," he added, calling on the West to provide military support for Ukraine.

The Kremlin was forced to admit Tuesday that a number of its troops captured by Ukrainian forces had crossed the border "by accident".

The three Baltic nations, which spent five decades under Soviet occupation until 1991, have been following the Ukraine events closely, concerned about the impact of Moscow's actions there on their security.

Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics for his part took to Twitter on Thursday to condemn Moscow's actions.

"Russian invasion in Ukraine must be considered by the U.N. Security Council as act of aggression, U.N. must react accordingly, this is war," he said.