Russia Using Artillery in #Ukraine, NATO Says

At the Wall Street Journal, "Ukraine Says Russia Violated Its Border: Move Comes as NATO Says Russia Has Been Using Artillery Against Ukraine":

Russia has been using artillery against Ukraine forces both from its own territory and from inside Ukraine, NATO officials said Friday. It was the latest volatile development as U.S. and Western military leaders condemned Moscow for sending a convoy of trucks believed to be carrying humanitarian aid into Ukraine without Kiev's permission.

The entry of the aid convoy and the reported presence of Russian forces mark a sharp escalation of the four-month-old conflict. The developments also risk derailing a new diplomatic push to calm the conflict, with German Chancellor Angela Merkel scheduled to visit Kiev on Saturday and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko due to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin and European Union officials on Tuesday.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization warned of a "dangerous situation" as reports of increased covert Russian military involvement, including artillery fire, within Ukraine coincided with the entry of the convoy, which gives Russia an overt official presence in rebel-held territory for the first time. U.S. officials said Russia's actions could trigger further consequences, without elaborating.

Russia, which has steadfastly denied aiding the pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine, brushed aside NATO's accusations. "They have been reporting those things throughout the crisis without providing any proof," Vitaly Churkin, Russia's ambassador to the United Nations, told reporters in New York.

Oana Lungescu, spokeswoman for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, said Friday, "Since mid-August we have multiple reports of the direct involvement of Russian forces, including Russian airborne, air-defense and special-operations forces, in eastern Ukraine." Russian artillery had been fired against Ukrainian forces "both cross-border and from within Ukraine," Ms. Lungescu said. She didn't say how many Russian troops are believed to be in eastern Ukraine or where they had been active.

U.S. officials also said that Russia had been firing into Ukraine, but stopped short of confirming that the artillery fire had come from within Ukraine.

"We have seen the use of Russian artillery in Ukraine in the past days," Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes said. "I wouldn't want to speak to an individual instance today, but it certainly has been a pattern whereby we've seen firing from within Russia into Ukraine, and we've seen a disturbing movement of Russian artillery and military equipment into Ukraine as well."

Well, obviously we're not going to do anything. Russian's been acting with impunity for months, if not years.

More.

And watch the first half of this Martha McCallum interview with Lieutenant General Thomas McInerney, who slams Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes as basically an impotent weasel. This is a "covert invasion" of Ukraine by Russia, says McInery. A very serious development not likely to be rebuffed anytime soon. Watch: "Russia Convoy Crosses Into Ukraine - The Kelly File."