Kiev Accuses Moscow of Military Intervention Ahead of Talks on Tuesday

Despite the looming talks between the two countries, the arm wrestling between Kiev and Moscow continued on Monday, with Ukraine’s military accusing Russian forces of opening a new front in the war in the Donetsk region. 

On Monday, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced Moscow plans to send a second aid convoy in Eastern Ukraine.

A few hours later, Kiev said an armoured column including 10 tanks already entered from Russia. Lavrov said he had no information about it, dismissing the accusation as 'disinformation.'

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian government is stepping up efforts to strengthen its military power. On Friday, it allocated UAH 9.1 billion to ‘provide anti-terrorist operations.’ 

‘A batch of armored vehicles will be sent to ATO area, some of them were ordered by the National Guard and paid from the State budget, another part was paid by a MP of Ukraine,’ reads a note released by the Ukrainian government. 

MEETING IN BELARUS

On Tuesday, Ukraine’s Petro Poroshenko is expected to meet Russia’s Vladimir Putin in Minsk, Belarus, during a summit of the Russian-led Customs Union.

Last Friday, Germany’s Angela Merkel met Ukraine’s PM Arseniy Yatsenyuk to prepare the meeting. 

‘The PM discussed with the Federal Chancellor issues of stabilization of the situation in the East of Ukraine and the restoring of the areas that suffered from the actions of Russia-backed terrorists. Arseniy Yatsenyuk and Angela Merkel stressed the importance of a strong consolidated response of the European Union to Russian aggression and the Kremlin's attempts to destabilize the political and economic situation in Ukraine,’ the Ukrainian Government wrote on its website.