About 40 armed men attacked a Ukrainian border post on the frontier with Russia on Thursday and tried to seize control of it, but were beaten off by Ukrainian forces, the border guard in Kiev said.
It said two minivans arrived at the border as if about to leave Ukraine at the Izvarino crossing point in the eastern region of Lugansk, a hotbed of pro-Russian insurgency. The men jumped out of the vehicles, surrounded the post, pointed their rifles and demanded guards lay down their weapons.
The border guards refused and opened fire, the assailants replying with petrol bombs. The attack ended with the men fleeing. The Border Guard office said steps were being taken to reinforce the post.
Earlier, Russia's Defense Ministry said Ukraine had assembled 15,000 troops on its border with Russia and asked the West to stop "cynically misinforming" the international community about events on the frontier between the two countries.
"A concentration of Ukrainian armed forces is continuing on the Russian-Ukrainian border. A 15,000-strong grouping of Ukrainian troops has been deployed along the border area," RIA Novosti news agency quoted Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov as saying.
This as Ukraine's government said it is ready to talk to political parties and regional officials in eastern regions on ways to resolve the country's crisis, but will not talk to "terrorists", the Foreign Ministry said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin called on Wednesday for talks between Ukraine's new pro-Western leaders and separatists in the east, a move which Kiev said suggested his U-turn was evidence that international pressure on Moscow was working.
However, Russia's Foreign Ministry suggested that NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen was "blind" after he wrote he had seen no signs Russia was withdrawing troops from Ukraine's border.
Rasmussen's statement, posted on his Twitter microblog, directly contradicted the words of President Vladimir Putin who called on Wednesday on rebels in eastern Ukraine to delay a secession vote and said that Moscow had withdrawn troops.
"For those with a blind eye we suggest to follow President Putin's statement of May 7," the ministry tweeted in English in response to the Rasmussen post.
This as, a Kremlin spokesman said that Russia needs more information and additional analysis, after pro-Moscow rebels in eastern Ukraine reportedly snubbed President Vladimir Putin and said they would go ahead with a secession referendum planned for Sunday.
"Kiev first stated that it was not going to wind down its punitive action," Dmitry Peskov said, referring to the Ukrainian government's security operation to quell the separatist unrest.
"Then came the statement that the referendum will not be put off." "There is little information for now, we need additional analysis."
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Russia expressed "deep concern" on Thursday about the Ukrainian government's response to proposals voiced by Moscow and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe for steps to defuse the crisis in Ukraine.
The authorities in Kiev "have called into question the prospects of the OSCE's efforts to launch an inclusive nationwide dialogue" in Ukraine, the Russian Foreign Ministry said after a phone conversation between Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his German counterpart, Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
This comes as Lavorv had a similar telephone conversation with his French counterpart in which he said that it would be "senseless" for Ukraine to hold a presidential election set for May 25 unless the government ends a military operation against separatists in the east and begins a nationwide dialogue on constitutional reform. Lavrov also said that violence that killed more than 40 people in the Ukrainian city of Odessa last week must be thoroughly investigated, the Foreign Ministry said.
Meanwhile, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State William Burns said that Russia was heading down a "dangerous and irresponsible path" over Ukraine and that Washington and its partners would steadily step up pressure on Moscow until it changed course. After talks with Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev in the Kazakh capital Astana, Burns told reporters the situation in Ukraine was "extremely combustible".
In turn, the European Union said it was watching developments in Ukraine closely to see if Russian President Vladimir Putin would act after he said he was pulling Russian troops from Ukraine's borders.
"We take good note of President Putin's remarks on ... the issue of Ukrainian presidential elections on May 25, on his call to postpone a local referendum in the eastern part of Ukraine as well as his announcement on the recall of Russian troops from the borders of Ukraine," EU foreign policy spokeswoman Maja Kocijancic told reporters.
Ukraine Risks Split:
Russia's top lawmaker, Valentina Matviyenko, said on Thursday Ukraine risked causing a political split in the country if Kiev did not stop using its armed forces against the people.
"If Ukraine falls apart, Kiev and its Western patrons will bear full and complete responsibility for that," Matviyenko, who is the chair of the Russian parliament's upper chamber, was also quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency.
Putin to join Western leaders at WW2 event:
Russian President Vladimir Putin will join Western leaders at a ceremony in France next month to mark the 70th anniversary of the Normandy landings in World War Two, the Russian ambassador to Paris said on Thursday.
The event in Normandy on June 6 will offer a first chance for Putin to meet Western leaders, including U.S. President Barack Obama, since the Ukrainian crisis erupted in February with the toppling of pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovich in Kiev.
Russia expands sanctions against US, Canada:
Moscow has retaliated against sanctions imposed by the United States and Canada last month by expanding its lists of American and Canadian officials barred from Russia, but will not name those affected, the Foreign Ministry said on Thursday.
"Sanctions are not our method in general, but unfriendly actions force us to respond. The most recent sanctions (imposed by) Washington and Ottawa are no exception," ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said in a statement.
REUTERS