KIEV, August 20 (RIA Novosti) — Ukraine’s intelligence service is unable to confirm reports that Russian armored vehicles purportedly entered the eastern Ukrainian city of Luhansk, a spokesman for the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine said Wednesday.
"This information calls for an outright suspicion, because many of the details of this information came about yesterday and this morning," Andriy Lysenko said.
A number of Ukrainian press agencies, citing an unknown source, reported that military aid from Russia had allegedly arrived in the eastern Ukrainian city of Luhansk.
"We don’t have any official confirmation from our intelligence [officers] in regard to the existence of this column [of armored vehicles]," Lysenko said.
Some Western countries have accused Russia of supplying military equipment to help independence supporters in their resistance to Ukrainian national forces. The West grew even more vocal after a Malaysia Airlines passenger plane crashed in Donetsk Region in July, with many saying it was shot down with a Russian missile.
Moscow has denied sending military aid to Ukraine’s eastern regions. Earlier this week, Russia denied allegations about a Russian "incursion" in Ukraine, and urged the European Union to adhere to the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT), which prohibits EU members from sending Kiev the weapons it has requested.
Kiev said earlier that it has not received any military support from any country in the course of its military operation.
Since mid-April, Kiev has been conducting a military operation against the southeastern regions of Ukraine that refused to recognize the legitimacy of the new government after the February coup.
Russia has repeatedly condemned Kiev’s actions and urged for peaceful dialogue with representatives of Ukraine’s southeastern regions.
