Another update from RFE/RL's news desk:
The United Nations Security Council is holding an emergency meeting on today about the crisis in eastern Ukraine.
Meanwhile, envoys from all 28 NATO member states have scheduled urgent talks in Brussels tomorrow with Kyiv's NATO ambassador about Russia's military incursion into eastern Ukraine.
The meetings come after Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko said on August 28 that Russia has deployed forces in eastern Ukraine.
Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council said Russian tanks and troops seized the border town of Novoazovsk after pummeling government forces with Grad rockets and cross-border artillery fire.
A spokesman in Kyiv said government forces had regrouped on August 28 to defend Mariupol to the west of Novoazovsk.
A NATO official said on August 28 that more than 1,000 Russian soldiers have invaded eastern Ukraine, with 20,000 more mobilized just across the Russian border.
(Reuters, AP, AFP, BBC, ITAR-TASS, Interfax)
#NATO satellite images show #Russia self-propelled artillery in #Ukraine as #Putin tries to secure Crimea Corridor http://t.co/ZjPHyXP43p
— Maxim Tucker (@MaxRTucker) August 28, 2014
Russia's NGO Soldiers Mothers says 250 more paratroopers from Ryazan to get dropped in Ukraine next week http://t.co/BQY4wOXlf2
— Ryskeldi Satke (@RyskeldiSatke) August 28, 2014
Exclusive - Over 100 Russian soldiers killed in single Ukraine battle - Russian rights activists http://t.co/uwi7JnLL63 via @reuters
— Mark Trevelyan (@MarkTrev64) August 28, 2014
NATO briefed today that there were 1000+ Russian tps in #Ukraine. I hear their classified view is 4 battalion task grps are in - nearer 5000
— Mark Urban (@MarkUrban01) August 28, 2014
As becomes clear regular Russian soldiers are in #Ukraine, few dozen anti-war protestors at Kremlin. @leonidragozin pic.twitter.com/XXXar5NF6O
— Alec Luhn (@ASLuhn) August 28, 2014
Hmm, it seems that Canadian tweet has raised some Russian hackles (and incidentally isn't Moscow supposed to have recognized Abkhazia as a state...?):
Helping our Canadian colleagues to catch up with contemporary geography of #Europe @CanadaNATO pic.twitter.com/MjzRxpFFfN
— Russians at NATO (@natomission_ru) August 28, 2014
The UN Security Council meeting on Ukraine is under way and the United States' Susan Power has had some harsh words for Moscow:
U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power told an emergency session of the UN Security Council on August 28 that Russia must "stop lying" about its invasion of eastern Ukraine and its direct military support for pro-Kremlin separatists there.
Power told the UN Security Council that Washington will continue working with its partners from the Group of Seven leading industrialized nations "to ratchet up consequences on Russia.”
Saying that Russia's "mask is beginning to come off," Power said that the Kremlin's "blatant disregard for the United Nations Charter will not be tolerated."
She told the Security Council: "Now, the key question to be answered is not what we can say to Russia to make them hear us, but what we can do."
Urging strong international action against Moscow, Power said that in the face of the threat now posed by Russia, "the cost of inaction is unacceptable."
1/4 A couple of things to think about. Russia's economy can't sustain a long war and a long protracted market fluctuations, no investment.
— Ben Judah (@b_judah) August 28, 2014
2/4 So, if you are thinking fiscally, which they are likely not, its best to get whatever you want to do over quickly and weather the storm.
— Ben Judah (@b_judah) August 28, 2014
3/4 The potential for an anti-war movement in Russia is much, much, much bigger than the liberal protests of 2011. Especially as people die.
— Ben Judah (@b_judah) August 28, 2014
4/4 And, despite sanctions, doom headlines, oil authoritarians can keep going for decades even if they are blockaded from West. Think Iran.
— Ben Judah (@b_judah) August 28, 2014
!!! BREAKING NEWS !!!
U.S. President Barack Obama is briefing the press in Washington. He says the "ongoing incursion" into Ukraine by Russia will only lead to additional costs for Moscow. Obama said sanctions imposed so far have hurt Russia. He also said Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko will visit the White House next month.