Ukraine Rebels to Open Path for Trapped Army
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - Ukraine's pro-Moscow separatists agreed to let encircled Ukrainian government forces leave the rebel-held eastern town of Novoazovsk a day after capturing following intervention from Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"We are ready to give a humanitarian corridor," Alexander Zakharchenko, a rebel leader, told Rossiya 24 TV on Friday, adding that troops would have to leave their heavy armoured vehicles and ammunition.
The move came hours after Putin issued a statement published on the Kremlin's website overnight on Thursday, urging the separatists to "avoid unnecessary casualties".
"I call on the rebel forces to open a humanitarian corridor for the Ukrainian troops who are surrounded, so as to avoid unnecessary casualties and to give them the opportunity to withdraw from the zone of operations," said Putin.
Ukraine said on Thursday that the rebels had captured Novoazovsk with the help of Russian troops who had crossed over into Ukraine in "up to 100" tanks along with heavy weaponry, Al Jazeera reported.
Russia dismissed the allegations, describing the fighters as "Russian volunteers".
The Kremlin has repeatedly denied arming and supporting the separatists who have been battling Ukrainian troops for four months in the gravest crisis between Russia and the West since the end of the Cold War.
NATO said on Thursday that at least 1,000 Russian troops were in Ukraine and later released what it said were satellite photos of Russian self-propelled artillery units moving last week.
Two columns of tanks and other equipment entered southeastern Ukraine at midday, following heavy shelling of the area from Russia that forced overmatched Ukrainian border guards to flee, said Colonel Andriy Lysenko, a spokesman for Ukraine's national security council.