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Don't mess with Russia, Putin warns
By Greg Botelho and Laura Smith-Spark, CNN
updated 6:05 PM EDT, Fri August 29, 2014
(CNN) -- Don't mess with Russia.
That was President Vladimir Putin's message on Friday, the same day a British government source claimed that Russian troops had significantly ratcheted up their military incursion into Ukraine.
Moscow doesn't want or intend to wade into any "large-scale conflicts," Putin insisted at a youth forum, state-run Itar-Tass reported. A few breaths later, he made the point that Russia is "strengthening our nuclear deterrence forces and our armed forces," making them more efficient and modernized.
"I want to remind you that Russia is one of the most powerful nuclear nations," the President said. "This is a reality, not just words."
He later warned, "We must always be ready to repel any aggression against Russia and (potential enemies) should be aware ... it is better not to come against Russia as regards a possible armed conflict."
At a press conference on Thursday, August 28, Dutch Brig. Gen. Nico Tak, a senior NATO commander, revealed satellite images of what NATO says are Russian combat forces engaged in military operations in or near Ukrainian territory. NATO said this image shows Russian self-propelled artillery units set up in firing positions near Krasnodon, in eastern Ukraine.
Ukrainian soldiers stop on a roadside as they wait for the start of their march into Mariupol, Ukraine, on Wednesday, August 27. Ukrainian government forces have been battling pro-Russian rebels near Ukraine's eastern border with Russia. The fighting has left more than 2,000 people dead since mid-April, according to estimates from U.N. officials.
A pro-Russian rebel walks through a local market damaged by shelling in Donetsk, Ukraine, on Tuesday, August 26.
Ukrainian servicemen of the volunteer battalion Azov leave for Novoazovsk, Ukraine, on August 26.
Pro-Russian separatists escort captured Ukrainian army soldiers in a central square in Donetsk, Ukraine, on Sunday, August 24.
People yell as Ukrainian prisoners are paraded through Donetsk in eastern Ukraine on August 24.
A pro-Russian rebel delivers a speech atop a damaged Ukrainian armored personnel carrier in Donetsk on August 24. Ukraine has recently retaken control of much of its eastern territory bordering Russia, but fierce fighting for the rebel-held cities of Donetsk and Luhansk persists.
People look at damaged Ukrainian military equipment in Donetsk on August 24.
The first trucks of a Russian aid convoy roll on the main road to Luhansk in eastern Ukraine on Friday, August 22. The head of Ukraine's security service called the convoy a "direct invasion" under the guise of humanitarian aid since it entered the country without Red Cross monitors.
A pro-Russian rebel holds shrapnel from a rocket after shelling in Donetsk, Ukraine, on August 22.
Residents sit in a makeshift bomb shelter during a shelling in Makiyivka, Ukraine, on Wednesday, August 20.
Dogs play together as a Russian convoy carrying aid supplies stops at a border control point with Ukraine, in the Russian town of Donetsk, in the Rostov-on-Don region on August 20.
Ukrainian forces take their position not far from Luhansk, Ukraine, on August 20. Ukrainian troops made a significant push into rebel-held territory in eastern Ukraine, claiming control over a large part of Luhansk and encircling the largest rebel-held city, Donetsk, in fighting that has left at least 43 dead.
Clouds of smoke are on the horizon as Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian rebels clash in Yasynuvata, a suburb of Donetsk, Ukraine, on Tuesday, August 19.
An Ukrainian helicopter flies near Kramatorsk, Ukraine, on August 19.
Ukrainian soldiers load a missile during fighting with pro-Russian rebels Monday, August 18, near Luhansk, Ukraine.
Boys play at a refugee camp, set up by the Russian Emergencies Ministry, near the Russian-Ukrainian border on August 18.
Pro-Russian rebels greet each other as they pass near Krasnodon, Ukraine, on August 16.
A fireman tries to extinguish a fire after shelling in Donetsk on August 16.
Ukrainian border guards patrol near Novoazovsk, Ukraine, on Friday, August 15.
Trucks of a Russian humanitarian convoy are parked in a field outside the town of Kamensk-Shakhtinsky, in the Rostov region of Russia about 20 miles from the Ukraine border, on August 15. Ukrainian officials were preparing to inspect the convoy, which was bound for the conflict-torn east.
A truck driver from the convoy jumps out of a trailer on August 15. The Ukrainian government had expressed fears that the convoy was a large-scale effort to smuggle supplies or troops to pro-Russian rebels.
A tank belonging to pro-Russian rebels moves along a street in Donetsk on August 15.
A Ukrainian soldier walks past a line of self-propelled guns as a column of military vehicles prepares to head to the front line near Illovaisk, Ukraine, on Thursday, August 14.
A Ukrainian soldier prepares a mortar at a position near Illovaisk on August 14.
A man inspects damage at his house after a shelling in Donetsk on August 14.
A convoy of trucks, which Moscow said was carrying relief goods for war-weary civilians, moves from Voronezh, Russia, toward Rostov-on-Don, Russia, on August 14.
Pro-Russian rebels on the outskirts of Donetsk stand at a checkpoint near a bullet-riddled bus on Wednesday, August 13.
A pro-Russian rebel inspects damage after shelling in Donetsk on Thursday, August 7.
Smoke billows from a Ukrainian fighter jet crash near the village of Zhdanivka, Ukraine, on August 7.
Residents of eastern Ukraine cry in a hospital basement being used as a bomb shelter August 7 in Donetsk.
Ordnance from a Ukrainian rocket launcher shoots toward a pro-Russian militant position in the Donetsk region on August 7.
Relatives of Ukrainian military member Kyril Andrienko, who died in combat in eastern Ukraine, gather during his funeral in Lviv, Ukraine, on August 7.
Refugees from southeastern Ukraine wait at a refugee camp in Donetsk on Wednesday, August 6.
A pro-Russian rebel adjusts his weapon in Donetsk on August 6.
Men walk past a bomb crater in Donetsk on August 6.
A man steps out of his car as Ukrainian soldiers inspect the vehicle at a checkpoint in Debaltseve on August 6.
Ukrainian servicemen sit on a bus near Slovyansk, Ukraine, on Tuesday, August 5.
A pro-Russian separatist guards a road as Australian, Malaysian and Dutch investigators prepare to examine the crash site of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 near the village of Rossipne, Ukraine, on August 5. U.S. and Ukrainian officials allege that a Russian-made missile shot down the plane from rebel-held territory, killing all 298 people on board. Russia and the rebel fighters deny involvement.
Rescue workers carry the body of a woman who was killed during a bomb shelling in Donetsk on August 5.
A boy stands in a hallway of a refugee hostel run by pro-Russian rebels in Donetsk on Monday, August 4.
Ukrainian servicemen from the Donbass volunteer battalion clean their guns Sunday, August 3, in Popasna, Ukraine.
A woman says goodbye to her mother as she flees her home in Shakhtersk, Ukraine, on Tuesday, July 29. See more photos of the crisis from earlier this year
Photos: Crisis in Ukraine
The comments came the same day that Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov accused NATO of using "images from computer games" to -- in his view -- falsely make the case that Russian troops are in Ukraine. Lavrov said "hiding the evidence is an outstanding characteristic of the U.S. and many EU countries" with regard to Ukraine.
See the NATO satellite images
The thing is, many in the West don't believe much of anything coming out of Russia.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Friday that -- whatever the Kremlin says
-- the reality is Russian troops are inside the Ukraine and have fired on Ukrainian military positions.
"Those denials are completely without credibility," Earnest said.
And Russia's military may be getting digging in deeper in Ukraine. The British government source told CNN on Friday that Russia has moved 4,000 to 5,000 military personnel -- a figure far higher than one U.S. official's earlier claim of 1,000 troops.
The soldiers are aligned in "formed units" and fighting around Luhansk and Donetsk, said the UK source. And they may soon have company: Some 20,000 troops are on border and "more may be on the way," the source adds.
So what's Russia's endgame? Does it simply want to protect civilians or ethnic Russians in Ukraine? Or does it endeavor to develop a land bridge between Crimea -- which split from Ukraine to become part of Russia months ago, amid the unrest following President Viktor Yanukovych's ouster -- and the Russian border? Or perhaps take over all of Ukraine now?
The UK source, giving his government's analysis of Russian troop movements, surmised that right now "the primary role of the current Russian deployments inside Ukraine is probably to assist, support and take the pressure off the separatist forces in order to maintain pressure on Kiev to decentralize.
"However, we are not ruling out more ambitious plans, including a land corridor from the Russian border to Crimea."
After 8 months of conflict, what's next for Ukraine?
NATO chief blasts Russia's 'hollow denials'
Ukraine has been in crisis since last fall, when political upheaval preceded widespread violence that threatened to tear the Eastern Europe nation apart.
If anything, that violence has worsened the past several months -- as pro-Russian rebels dug in and Ukraine's military stepped up its offensive to retake its territory. The U.N. human rights office reports at least 2,593 people killed between mid-April and August 27, and that many innocent civilians have been killed, hurt or trapped in urban areas.
Predictably, both sides have taken the high road while blaming each other for humanitarian crisis and for perpetrating violence rather than having fair, sincere negotiations toward a cease-fire.
"When Kiev said that negotiations would begin only after the surrender of those whom they call 'separatists,' the militia are left with no choice but to defend their homes, their families," Russia's foreign ministry said in a statement.
Western officials say that Moscow hasn't taken any responsibility, whether for its military's on-the-ground involvement or how it can influence rebels.
Speaking after a meeting of NATO ambassadors in Brussels, Belgium, Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said what he called "the serious escalation of Russia's military aggression against Ukraine" violates Ukraine's territorial integrity and "defies all diplomatic efforts for a peaceful solution."
"Despite Moscow's hollow denials, it is now clear that Russian troops and equipment have illegally crossed the border into eastern and southeastern Ukraine," Rasmussen said. "This is not an isolated action but part of a dangerous pattern over many months to destabilize Ukraine as a sovereign nation."
Fighting raging on multiple fronts
Whoever is to blame, whoever is involved, two things that are not in question is that the fighting is continuing and that there's no end in sight.
Ukrainian troops have been fighting on two fronts: southeast of rebel-held Donetsk, and along the nation's southern coast in the town of Novoazovsk, about 12 miles (20 kilometers) from the Russian border.
Mykhailo Lysenko, deputy commander of the Ukrainian Donbas battalion, on Thursday described the fighting in the south as "a full-scale invasion."
Analysts suggest that Russia may have sent its forces into Novoazovsk to secure a land route from the border to the Crimean peninsula it annexed from Ukraine in March, and in order to throw Ukrainian forces making gains against besieged rebel forces in the cities of Donetsk and Luhansk off balance.
In a statement issued by the Kremlin, Putin said the rebels had halted a Ukrainian military operation in eastern Ukraine that he said had endangered the civilian population and caused many casualties.
The UK government source said Russian forces are fighting alongside rebels around Luhansk and Donetsk. It's too early to gauge their impact, though even if propping up the pro-Russian separatists for months longer so that Ukraine's military doesn't next turn its attention to taking back Crimea could be considered a victory.
"At the very least, the Russian deployments are creating the conditions for a frozen conflict going into winter and .. ensure that Kiev is sufficiently distracted ... to prevent it from refocusing its attention on Crimea," the source said.
Retired Lt. Gen. Mark Mark Hertling, a 37-year veteran who once commanded U.S. soldiers in Europe, thinks that Russia may be aiming higher than that. If Ukraine folds easily to Russia's military might, neighboring nations might have good reason to worry. On the other side, Moscow could lose sway if its efforts fail.
"He is trying to influence the Europeans, and it won't stop just with Ukraine," the military analyst told CNN, predicting more Russian military intervention elsewhere. "This is something where he is trying to counter the influence of the West, and he can't afford to lose in Ukraine."
By Greg Botelho and Laura Smith-Spark, CNN
updated 6:05 PM EDT, Fri August 29, 2014
(CNN) -- Don't mess with Russia.
That was President Vladimir Putin's message on Friday, the same day a British government source claimed that Russian troops had significantly ratcheted up their military incursion into Ukraine.
Moscow doesn't want or intend to wade into any "large-scale conflicts," Putin insisted at a youth forum, state-run Itar-Tass reported. A few breaths later, he made the point that Russia is "strengthening our nuclear deterrence forces and our armed forces," making them more efficient and modernized.
"I want to remind you that Russia is one of the most powerful nuclear nations," the President said. "This is a reality, not just words."
He later warned, "We must always be ready to repel any aggression against Russia and (potential enemies) should be aware ... it is better not to come against Russia as regards a possible armed conflict."
At a press conference on Thursday, August 28, Dutch Brig. Gen. Nico Tak, a senior NATO commander, revealed satellite images of what NATO says are Russian combat forces engaged in military operations in or near Ukrainian territory. NATO said this image shows Russian self-propelled artillery units set up in firing positions near Krasnodon, in eastern Ukraine.
Ukrainian soldiers stop on a roadside as they wait for the start of their march into Mariupol, Ukraine, on Wednesday, August 27. Ukrainian government forces have been battling pro-Russian rebels near Ukraine's eastern border with Russia. The fighting has left more than 2,000 people dead since mid-April, according to estimates from U.N. officials.
A pro-Russian rebel walks through a local market damaged by shelling in Donetsk, Ukraine, on Tuesday, August 26.
Ukrainian servicemen of the volunteer battalion Azov leave for Novoazovsk, Ukraine, on August 26.
Pro-Russian separatists escort captured Ukrainian army soldiers in a central square in Donetsk, Ukraine, on Sunday, August 24.
People yell as Ukrainian prisoners are paraded through Donetsk in eastern Ukraine on August 24.
A pro-Russian rebel delivers a speech atop a damaged Ukrainian armored personnel carrier in Donetsk on August 24. Ukraine has recently retaken control of much of its eastern territory bordering Russia, but fierce fighting for the rebel-held cities of Donetsk and Luhansk persists.
People look at damaged Ukrainian military equipment in Donetsk on August 24.
The first trucks of a Russian aid convoy roll on the main road to Luhansk in eastern Ukraine on Friday, August 22. The head of Ukraine's security service called the convoy a "direct invasion" under the guise of humanitarian aid since it entered the country without Red Cross monitors.
A pro-Russian rebel holds shrapnel from a rocket after shelling in Donetsk, Ukraine, on August 22.
Residents sit in a makeshift bomb shelter during a shelling in Makiyivka, Ukraine, on Wednesday, August 20.
Dogs play together as a Russian convoy carrying aid supplies stops at a border control point with Ukraine, in the Russian town of Donetsk, in the Rostov-on-Don region on August 20.
Ukrainian forces take their position not far from Luhansk, Ukraine, on August 20. Ukrainian troops made a significant push into rebel-held territory in eastern Ukraine, claiming control over a large part of Luhansk and encircling the largest rebel-held city, Donetsk, in fighting that has left at least 43 dead.
Clouds of smoke are on the horizon as Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian rebels clash in Yasynuvata, a suburb of Donetsk, Ukraine, on Tuesday, August 19.
An Ukrainian helicopter flies near Kramatorsk, Ukraine, on August 19.
Ukrainian soldiers load a missile during fighting with pro-Russian rebels Monday, August 18, near Luhansk, Ukraine.
Boys play at a refugee camp, set up by the Russian Emergencies Ministry, near the Russian-Ukrainian border on August 18.
Pro-Russian rebels greet each other as they pass near Krasnodon, Ukraine, on August 16.
A fireman tries to extinguish a fire after shelling in Donetsk on August 16.
Ukrainian border guards patrol near Novoazovsk, Ukraine, on Friday, August 15.
Trucks of a Russian humanitarian convoy are parked in a field outside the town of Kamensk-Shakhtinsky, in the Rostov region of Russia about 20 miles from the Ukraine border, on August 15. Ukrainian officials were preparing to inspect the convoy, which was bound for the conflict-torn east.
A truck driver from the convoy jumps out of a trailer on August 15. The Ukrainian government had expressed fears that the convoy was a large-scale effort to smuggle supplies or troops to pro-Russian rebels.
A tank belonging to pro-Russian rebels moves along a street in Donetsk on August 15.
A Ukrainian soldier walks past a line of self-propelled guns as a column of military vehicles prepares to head to the front line near Illovaisk, Ukraine, on Thursday, August 14.
A Ukrainian soldier prepares a mortar at a position near Illovaisk on August 14.
A man inspects damage at his house after a shelling in Donetsk on August 14.
A convoy of trucks, which Moscow said was carrying relief goods for war-weary civilians, moves from Voronezh, Russia, toward Rostov-on-Don, Russia, on August 14.
Pro-Russian rebels on the outskirts of Donetsk stand at a checkpoint near a bullet-riddled bus on Wednesday, August 13.
A pro-Russian rebel inspects damage after shelling in Donetsk on Thursday, August 7.
Smoke billows from a Ukrainian fighter jet crash near the village of Zhdanivka, Ukraine, on August 7.
Residents of eastern Ukraine cry in a hospital basement being used as a bomb shelter August 7 in Donetsk.
Ordnance from a Ukrainian rocket launcher shoots toward a pro-Russian militant position in the Donetsk region on August 7.
Relatives of Ukrainian military member Kyril Andrienko, who died in combat in eastern Ukraine, gather during his funeral in Lviv, Ukraine, on August 7.
Refugees from southeastern Ukraine wait at a refugee camp in Donetsk on Wednesday, August 6.
A pro-Russian rebel adjusts his weapon in Donetsk on August 6.
Men walk past a bomb crater in Donetsk on August 6.
A man steps out of his car as Ukrainian soldiers inspect the vehicle at a checkpoint in Debaltseve on August 6.
Ukrainian servicemen sit on a bus near Slovyansk, Ukraine, on Tuesday, August 5.
A pro-Russian separatist guards a road as Australian, Malaysian and Dutch investigators prepare to examine the crash site of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 near the village of Rossipne, Ukraine, on August 5. U.S. and Ukrainian officials allege that a Russian-made missile shot down the plane from rebel-held territory, killing all 298 people on board. Russia and the rebel fighters deny involvement.
Rescue workers carry the body of a woman who was killed during a bomb shelling in Donetsk on August 5.
A boy stands in a hallway of a refugee hostel run by pro-Russian rebels in Donetsk on Monday, August 4.
Ukrainian servicemen from the Donbass volunteer battalion clean their guns Sunday, August 3, in Popasna, Ukraine.
A woman says goodbye to her mother as she flees her home in Shakhtersk, Ukraine, on Tuesday, July 29. See more photos of the crisis from earlier this year
Photos: Crisis in Ukraine
The comments came the same day that Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov accused NATO of using "images from computer games" to -- in his view -- falsely make the case that Russian troops are in Ukraine. Lavrov said "hiding the evidence is an outstanding characteristic of the U.S. and many EU countries" with regard to Ukraine.
See the NATO satellite images
The thing is, many in the West don't believe much of anything coming out of Russia.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Friday that -- whatever the Kremlin says
-- the reality is Russian troops are inside the Ukraine and have fired on Ukrainian military positions.
"Those denials are completely without credibility," Earnest said.
And Russia's military may be getting digging in deeper in Ukraine. The British government source told CNN on Friday that Russia has moved 4,000 to 5,000 military personnel -- a figure far higher than one U.S. official's earlier claim of 1,000 troops.
The soldiers are aligned in "formed units" and fighting around Luhansk and Donetsk, said the UK source. And they may soon have company: Some 20,000 troops are on border and "more may be on the way," the source adds.
So what's Russia's endgame? Does it simply want to protect civilians or ethnic Russians in Ukraine? Or does it endeavor to develop a land bridge between Crimea -- which split from Ukraine to become part of Russia months ago, amid the unrest following President Viktor Yanukovych's ouster -- and the Russian border? Or perhaps take over all of Ukraine now?
The UK source, giving his government's analysis of Russian troop movements, surmised that right now "the primary role of the current Russian deployments inside Ukraine is probably to assist, support and take the pressure off the separatist forces in order to maintain pressure on Kiev to decentralize.
"However, we are not ruling out more ambitious plans, including a land corridor from the Russian border to Crimea."
After 8 months of conflict, what's next for Ukraine?
NATO chief blasts Russia's 'hollow denials'
Ukraine has been in crisis since last fall, when political upheaval preceded widespread violence that threatened to tear the Eastern Europe nation apart.
If anything, that violence has worsened the past several months -- as pro-Russian rebels dug in and Ukraine's military stepped up its offensive to retake its territory. The U.N. human rights office reports at least 2,593 people killed between mid-April and August 27, and that many innocent civilians have been killed, hurt or trapped in urban areas.
Predictably, both sides have taken the high road while blaming each other for humanitarian crisis and for perpetrating violence rather than having fair, sincere negotiations toward a cease-fire.
"When Kiev said that negotiations would begin only after the surrender of those whom they call 'separatists,' the militia are left with no choice but to defend their homes, their families," Russia's foreign ministry said in a statement.
Western officials say that Moscow hasn't taken any responsibility, whether for its military's on-the-ground involvement or how it can influence rebels.
Speaking after a meeting of NATO ambassadors in Brussels, Belgium, Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said what he called "the serious escalation of Russia's military aggression against Ukraine" violates Ukraine's territorial integrity and "defies all diplomatic efforts for a peaceful solution."
"Despite Moscow's hollow denials, it is now clear that Russian troops and equipment have illegally crossed the border into eastern and southeastern Ukraine," Rasmussen said. "This is not an isolated action but part of a dangerous pattern over many months to destabilize Ukraine as a sovereign nation."
Fighting raging on multiple fronts
Whoever is to blame, whoever is involved, two things that are not in question is that the fighting is continuing and that there's no end in sight.
Ukrainian troops have been fighting on two fronts: southeast of rebel-held Donetsk, and along the nation's southern coast in the town of Novoazovsk, about 12 miles (20 kilometers) from the Russian border.
Mykhailo Lysenko, deputy commander of the Ukrainian Donbas battalion, on Thursday described the fighting in the south as "a full-scale invasion."
Analysts suggest that Russia may have sent its forces into Novoazovsk to secure a land route from the border to the Crimean peninsula it annexed from Ukraine in March, and in order to throw Ukrainian forces making gains against besieged rebel forces in the cities of Donetsk and Luhansk off balance.
In a statement issued by the Kremlin, Putin said the rebels had halted a Ukrainian military operation in eastern Ukraine that he said had endangered the civilian population and caused many casualties.
The UK government source said Russian forces are fighting alongside rebels around Luhansk and Donetsk. It's too early to gauge their impact, though even if propping up the pro-Russian separatists for months longer so that Ukraine's military doesn't next turn its attention to taking back Crimea could be considered a victory.
"At the very least, the Russian deployments are creating the conditions for a frozen conflict going into winter and .. ensure that Kiev is sufficiently distracted ... to prevent it from refocusing its attention on Crimea," the source said.
Retired Lt. Gen. Mark Mark Hertling, a 37-year veteran who once commanded U.S. soldiers in Europe, thinks that Russia may be aiming higher than that. If Ukraine folds easily to Russia's military might, neighboring nations might have good reason to worry. On the other side, Moscow could lose sway if its efforts fail.
"He is trying to influence the Europeans, and it won't stop just with Ukraine," the military analyst told CNN, predicting more Russian military intervention elsewhere. "This is something where he is trying to counter the influence of the West, and he can't afford to lose in Ukraine."