Ukraine: Tanks invade southern town, Russia promises second aid convoy

The Ukrainian government has claimed that Russia sent another column of armored vehicles into Ukraine, while Russia announced plans for a second convoy of aid.

Citing local residents and the Ukrainian military, Reuters reports that ten tanks and two armored personnel carriers crossed into Ukraine at the village of Novoazovsk, on the Azov Sea.

The ten tanks and two armored personnel carriers were said to be Russian soldiers disguised as separatists, according to Reuters. The Ukrainian military said it was able to halt their advance.

The location of the incursion is strategically significant because the rebels do not control any territory with a shoreline. Control over maritime territory would allow the separatists to more easily receive supplies and reinforcements from Russia in their battle against the Ukrainian military.

Reuters reports a separatist commander claimed the ten pieces of armor were part of a larger body of 50 that had come from Russia. He also said that Russian artillery was being fire into Ukraine to support the assault.

Fighting in the region is currently concentrated in and around the cities of Donetsk and Luhansk.

Luhansk was the destination of a Russian aid convoy consisting of around 250 trucks. That convoy was condemned by the government in Kiev and by Western powers like the European Union and the United States.

There were fears that the convoy was carrying military supplies or a pretext for invasion, these seem to have been unfounded.

The New York Times reports that the Russian Foreign Ministry has announced plans to dispatch a second convoy of food, water, and medicine. The convoy will depart for Ukraine sometime later in the week.

The possible incursion of Russian forces, and the sending of another aid convoy Ukraine does not desire are the backdrop for a regional meeting that Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko will both attend.