Ukrainian Soldiers in Limbo after Crossing into Russia

With a scarred face and eyes red with fatigue, Ukrainian serviceman Pavel sits in a tent on the Russian side of the border, contemplating a decision he already regrets.

"We were given the order to surrender," he said wearily. "Orders are orders, but this time, I did not want to obey."

Pavel is one of a group of soldiers that Russia says numbers over 400 who crossed the border Monday seeking protection after clashing with pro-Kremlin separatists in eastern Ukraine.

As some soldiers tell it, though, the story is not the tale of desertion recounted by Moscow.

"We ran out of ammunition, we could not fight for 24 hours straight. We received the order to go across the border. We did not want to surrender, but it was the only solution," another serviceman told Agence France Presse.

Most of the soldiers shunned the small army of journalists flown in by the Russian defense ministry to the border village of Gukovo to meet them, instead seeking refuge in a nearby wooded area.

Gesturing dismissively towards the cameras, the soldier said he did not want to "participate in this publicity stunt" by the Russian army. He refused to give his last name and denied that he fled combat to switch sides.

"I don't want my family to think of me as a traitor," said Pavel. "I don't know what the Russians are telling you, but there is not one person among us who intends to stay here."

"Ukraine is our country and I am convinced that our fight against the rebels is just," his comrade added.

After a string of initial setbacks this spring, the Ukrainian army has advanced on the rebel-held cities Donetsk and Lugansk in recent weeks, trying to cut them off from the border and the flow of weapons that Kiev says is coming from Russia.

Russian authorities said 438 soldiers crossed the border in what some media spun as a massive desertion of demoralized Ukrainian troops seeking refuge from a conflict they did not support.

About 180 later went back across the border to Ukraine, said the Federal Security Service (FSB), which controls Russia's border guards.

Ukrainian authorities said Monday that the soldiers were forced to retreat to a Russian border checkpoint after their supplies were cut off due to constant fire on the unit.

"Some soldiers retreated because they ran out of ammunition," said a spokesman for the Ukrainian border service. "There was no discussion of asylum, Ukrainian soldiers asked for a 'humanitarian corridor'."

Soldiers remaining in Gukovo were housed in large army tents pitched across the wheat fields near the border crossing.

"They came spontaneously, they had no orders, if there were we would have been warned," FSB regional spokesman Vasily Malayev told AFP.

"We knew right away that they were not attacking the border because they were not armed. It would be crazy to attack Russia," he said.

Malayev dismissed accusations that Russia is taking the soldiers in as a PR event. "It's more of a humanitarian operation," he said.

"If the soldiers want to stay in Russia, they are welcome. They can stay as long as they want and receive asylum," just like refugees from eastern Ukraine whose white tents stand nearby, Malayev added.

"We have built them a camp where they are receiving food, and where they can bathe in a banya (Russian sauna) and get other essentials, like a good night's sleep," he said.

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, which has monitors stationed at the border crossing, said Tuesday that its observers had not heard of any cases of Ukrainian soldiers requesting asylum.

Surrounded by microphones and cameras, Anton Shingara, one of the few Ukrainian soldiers willing to give his full name, praised the "good welcome" by the Russian army to their "Slavic brothers".

He added, however, that he also hopes to return home soon.