Ukraine’s ceasefire breaking down

(Business New Europe – bne.eu – bne/IntelliNews – November 13, 2014) The shaky month and half ceasefire in Ukraine seems to be breaking down amid a mounting daily death toll over the past week and reports of Russian “little green men” and soldiers crossing the border into the disputed eastern provinces.

Nato reported that columns of Russian tanks, artillery and combat troops have been entering Ukraine over the past two days. The Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) followed up on November 11 with a report of a convoy of 43 unmarked military trucks moving toward eastern Ukraine and claimed on November 12 that “little green men” or combat soldiers in uniforms with no insignia, were entering Ukraine over the border with Russia.

Speaking in Sofia on November 12, Nato commander US General Philip Breedlove said: “We do not have a good picture at this time of how many. We agree that there are multiple columns that we have seen,” reported RFE/RL.

The spokesman for the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine, Michael Bociurkiw, added on November 12 that monitors near Donetsk had observed 126 unmarked military vehicles since November 8. “By unmarked, I mean no license plates. We also mean that the men inside these vehicles have no insignia on their uniforms. But they’re towing very heavy equipment, and we’re talking about multiple rocket launchers, we’re talking about 126-milimeter howitzer guns. This is not what one expects after the signing of the Minsk accords,” Bociurkiw told RFE/RL.

Neither organisation released any photos or other evidence of these claims. However, social media was rife with pictures of Russian tanks on the move and trucks towing howitzers and Katyusha rocket launchers, which it was claimed, are on their way to Donbass. It is not possible to independently confirm these claims. Other reports stated that up to 40,000 Russian troops have been massing on the border.

Russia’s Defence Ministry hotly denied any of Russia’s military were in Ukraine, nor ever have been. Defence Ministry spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov told journalists the “rumours” of alleged Russian military presence in Ukraine “are not backed by any facts. We have already stopped paying attention to these baseless allegations,” he said on