Image
© 6264.com.ua

Ukrainian troops rode into the town of Kramatorsk in the eastern Donetsk region on Wednesday in armored personnel carriers flying Russian flags in order to penetrate the town, acting leader of the Batkivshchyna party faction in Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada (parliament) Sergei Sobolev told reporters in Kiev, a Russian Business Channel-Ukraine correspondent reports.

Earlier, Ukraine's acting Defense Minister Mikhail Koval acknowledged the incident.

"Our troops used a guerrilla-style method to penetrate areas controlled by armed units of the Russian Federation and the separatists financed by Russia. I think that this will be reported within three hours or so and you will realize that it was a breakthrough that enabled our units to advance. That's the official information from the defense minister," Sobolev said.

At around 11:30 am on Wednesday, three APCs flying Russian flags reportedly entered Kramatorsk. The Ukrainian Defense Ministry initially denied those reports.

A column of armored vehicles has entered the town of Slavyansk, and servicemen are considering siding with the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, acting Slavyansk mayor Vyacheslav Ponomaryov told TASS.

Facing Slavyansk's Town Hall are four armored vehicles, a self-propelled gun and a communications vehicles sent by the Kiev-based command to the Donetsk region.

"We've let them through. The only condition is that the servicemen unclip their magazines through they retain the ammunition load. Our activists are bringing dinner shortly: we'll offer them a meal and then let them decide if they remain on our side or leave," Ponomaryov said.

The military has a choice: join the Donbass self-defense units or leave their weapons and military equipment and withdraw, he added.

Earlier, fighters of 25th airborne troops brigade sided with the self-defense activists. However, a considerable amount of armored vehicles belonging to Kiev-controlled military units is still amassed near Slavyansk.