Ukraine: The Story On The Russian Soldiers

Russian Paratroopers 'Captured' In Ukraine

Updated: 4:49pm UK, Tuesday 26 August 2014

Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko and Russian leader Vladimir Putin have sat down for talks - hours after video footage of captured Russian soldiers risked inflaming tensions between the two countries.

The two leaders met alongside senior EU officials in Belarus, where Mr Putin said the conflict in eastern Ukraine would not be solved by a military escalation in the region. 

Mr Poroshenko said the talks would decide "the fate of Europe and the world".

The Russian president's conciliatory words came after Ukraine presented fresh evidence suggesting Russian military activity within Ukraine.

Ukraine's security service (UBS) released video footage purportedly showing 10 Russian paratroopers who were captured by the army in the war-torn east of the country.

The UBS said it had opened a criminal probe after soldiers from the 98th airborne division based in central Russia were detained near the village of Dzerkalne, around 30 miles (50km) from rebel-held Donetsk.

A Ukrainian military spokesman said the men were on a "special mission".

But Russian military sources quoted by state news agencies have claimed the soldiers crossed the border by mistake.

In footage posted on the official Facebook page of the Ukrainian government's "anti-terrorist operation", the men were shown dressed in camouflage fatigues.

One of them, who identified himself as Ivan Melchyakov, listed his personal details, including the name of the paratroop regiment he said is based in the Russian town of Kostroma.

"I did not see where we crossed the border. They just told us we were going on a 70-kilometre march over three days," he said.

"Everything is different here, not like they show it on television. We've come as cannon fodder," he said in the video.

Ukraine's Defence Minister Valeriy Geletey said the soldiers were captured on Monday.

"Officially they are at exercises in various corners of Russia.

"In reality, they are participating in military aggression against Ukraine and their families know nothing about their true fate.

"I am addressing the relatives of Russian servicemen: find out immediately where your loved ones are. Take them out of Ukraine, where they are being forced to die."

US National Security Adviser Susan Rice slammed Russia over the incident, branding the latest apparent incursion "dangerous and inflammatory" on Twitter.

At the talks in Minsk, Mr Poroshenko said the only way to end the bloodshed in eastern Ukraine was through effective border controls with Russia, halting arms supplies to rebels and releasing prisoners of war.

Mr Putin said Moscow would retaliate if a trade pact between Ukraine and the EU gave European goods a back door to Russian markets - a move he said that would cost his economy 100bn roubles (£1.6bn)

Even as the Ukrainian president landed outside Minsk earlier on Tuesday, his country's military said an attack by Russian separatists on the town of Novoazovsk was ongoing.

A spokesman said a hospital was on fire and 12 Ukrainian service personnel had been killed in the last 24 hours - while government forces had destroyed 12 armoured infantry carriers in the area using artillery and aircraft.

Kiev has accused its neighbour of stoking the separatist insurgency but this is the first time authorities have claimed to have captured Russian soldiers.

Moscow continues to deny any involvement in the rebellion.

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US Border Control Warns Off Armed Militias

The US Border Patrol has warned private militias to stay out of the battle to stem the flow of illegal immigrants into the country.

A number of volunteer armies have appeared along the US-Mexico border in recent weeks as the country faces an unprecedented surge of migrants from Central America.

But the agency tasked with policing the border says those militias cause more problems than they solve.

Border Patrol agent Joe Gutierrez told Sky News: "Generally we don't encourage people to take the law into their own hands. We are uniquely qualified to do this job specifically. The public do act as our eyes and ears and we encourage them to do that."

The US government has flooded the border area with extra resources in recent weeks in an effort to tackle the growing crisis. Texas Governor Rick Perry has also deployed the National Guard to the region.

Sky News joined Border Patrol agents in the Rio Grande Valley - so far this year, more illegal immigrants have been apprehended in the valley than in the rest of the United States put together.

The militias are heavily armed with automatic weapons

While we were filming with agents, a group of migrants emerged from the bush. They had been dispatched across the Rio Grande on a raft by people smugglers.

Patty, a young woman from Honduras, had been travelling with her two-year-old son for six weeks. She told us the journey had been hard because she was walking without shoes. Many of those in the group were unaccompanied children, hoping to be allowed to stay in the US.

Militia groups say they are not concerned with women and children arriving. They fear drug cartels, criminal gangs and terrorists following the same path.

Kelli Gordon runs one of the private militia now patrolling the Rio Grande Valley.

She told Sky News: "My country is being invaded. If the government isn't going to protect our borders then that leaves we the people.

"We do need a militia because without it you need more police and we don't want more police.

"No-one wants to do this. We don't want to be out here but the militia is very important. We won't be unarmed because we are the last line of defence against tyranny."

No-one knows how many migrants are actually making it across the border but even those who do face a perilous journey north.

To avoid a checkpoint 80 miles inside Texas at Farfallas, many migrants head off across farmland, risking heat and exhaustion.

The bodies of more than one hundred migrants were found dumped in a mass grave at the Sacred Heart Cemetery in Farfallas.

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Ukraine-Russia Talks Yield No Breakthrough

Talks between the leaders of Ukraine and Russia have ended without a major breakthrough towards ending fighting between government forces and pro-Moscow separatists.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin sat down for one-on-one talks in Belarus, hours after Kiev said it had captured 10 Russian paratroopers on its territory.

Mr Poroshenko said there were "some results" but there seemed to be no significant compromises to help end four months of fighting in east Ukraine that has left more than 2,000 dead and forced more than 400,000 people from their homes.

Russia has long been accused by Kiev of backing the separatists, charges Moscow has repeatedly denied.

Mr Putin has faced criticism from Ukraine and the West over the crisis

Mr Putin said he would "do everything" to help a future peace process but did little to ease tensions when he shrugged off the claims about the paratroopers.

"I have not yet received a report from the defence ministry. But from what I have heard, they were patrolling the border and could have ended up on Ukrainian territory," Mr Putin said, adding that Ukrainian troops had previously crossed into Russia.

Mr Poroshenko (right) demanded action, not words, to end the fighting

"I am hoping that there won't be any problems with the Ukrainian side over this case."

Military sources in Moscow said they crossed over the border "by accident".

Ukraine's military released footage purporting to show the captured paratroopers, who were detained around 30 miles (50km) southeast of the rebel stronghold of Donetsk.

The two leaders also discussed aid to the east and the gas dispute

At the talks all sides "without exception" agreed to a Kiev peace plan, Mr Poroshenko said, but he demanded "decisive actions", not words, afterwards.

But Mr Putin said only Kiev can agree a ceasefire with the separatists, insisting: "This is not our business. This is Ukraine's business."

Moscow could only "create an atmosphere of trust for this important and necessary process", he claimed.

One of the Russian paratroopers Kiev claims to have captured

Russia's decision to send an aid convoy to east Ukraine last week also raised tensions, but Mr Putin claimed to have "reached certain" agreements at the talks on sending aid there.

Moscow announced on Monday it was planning to send a second convoy to the area this week.

Mr Putin also said the two countries agreed to restart gas talks after Moscow turned off the taps to Kiev over a pricing dispute.

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California Rattled By Strong Earthquake

Three people have been critically injured after a 6.0 magnitude earthquake shook California's Napa and Sonoma counties.

The quake, which was felt 40 miles (64 kilometres) away in San Francisco, set off car alarms and caused residents to run out of their homes in the middle of the night.

Some 87 people received minor injuries after the quake struck at 3.20am (11.20am UK time) at a depth of seven miles.

A reporter surveys the scene of a building collapse in Napa

California's governor has declared a state of emergency.

Pictures posted on Twitter showed firefighters putting out a blaze at a mobile home park in Napa Valley and piles of rubble and masonry lying in the street which had fallen from buildings.

A 2.6 magnitude aftershock hit half-an-hour later and US Geological Survey (USGS) expert Jessica Turner told KCBS radio that aftershocks of up to 5.0 are likely in the coming week.

The tremor occurred 40 miles from San Francisco

The shocks will be examined by geologists to determine whether the quake happened on a geological fault line.

The USGS added there was a "low likelihood for casualties", but issued an "orange alert" for possible damage, which means "significant damage is likely and the disaster is potentially widespread".

Californian police closed several roads that suffered significant damage and warned drivers to take extra care while crossing an intersection in Napa Valley strewn with bricks after a building partially collapsed.

People wearing bathrobes walk down a street in Napa

Engineers were dispatched to assess the damage and restore power to some 50,000 residents in Napa and Sonoma who suffered a blackout.

Randy Baldwin, a USGS geophysicist, said the tremor was potentially damaging because it was close to populated areas.

"It is the strongest quake in a 60-mile (100-km) radius from the epicentre of this quake in several decades," he said.

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Three Beheaded In Riot At Brazilian Prison

Three prisoners have been beheaded and at least five other people injured in a riot at a Brazilian jail, authorities said.

Inmates took several prisoners hostage during the riot, decapitating at least three and throwing others off the roof.

They also took prison officers hostage, burned furniture and smashed rooms up with metal poles. 

Police Captain Ricardo Pinto said the riot at the prison in the southern city of Cascavel was ongoing amid negotiations over better conditions.

The revolt at the 928 bed jail began before sunrise on Sunday when a prison guard was captured during breakfast, Captain Pinto said.

Dozens of the prisoners climbed onto the building's rooftop, with their faces covered with white fabric.

Local media images showed at least 30 rebellious inmates shouting while they beat men held with ropes around their necks, or whose hands were tied behind them.

The rioting inmates waved banners emblazoned with the initials PCC for a criminal prison gang formed in the 1990s.

Relatives arriving at the prison to visit inmates waited outside as night fell, trying to get information about their loved ones.

Jairo Ferreira, a lawyer for the prison guards' union, said the inmates rioted to demand better food and medical care in the prison.

Captain Pinto said the revolt may also have been related to the recent convictions of two prisoners.

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Kidnappers Release US Journalist In Syria

Kidnappers in Syria have released a US journalist who was abducted in 2012.

The United Nations (UN) confirmed Peter Theo Curtis, 45, was transferred to its peacekeeping force in the disputed Golan Heights region.

"After receiving a medical check-up, Mr Curtis was handed over to representatives of his government," the UN statement said.

Al Jazeera reported that the move followed diplomacy from Qatar.

US reporter James Foley

It comes six days after the Islamic State (IS) released a video of US reporter James Foley being beheaded in Iraq.

The UK says it is edging closer to identifying the apparently-British killer.

US Secretary of State John Kerry said: "Particularly after a week marked by unspeakable tragedy, we are all relieved and grateful knowing that Theo Curtis is coming home.

A map showing IS territory

"Over these last two years, the United States reached out to more than two dozen countries asking for urgent help from anyone who might have tools, influence, or leverage to help secure Theo's release and the release of any Americans held hostage in Syria."

Steven Sotloff is being held by IS in Iraq

The US-based Committee to Protect Journalists estimates that about 20 journalists are missing in Syria. Many of them are believed to be held by IS.

Mr Kerry said: "Every diplomatic, intelligence and military tool" is being used to secure the release of other American hostages.

A Qatari source told Reuters that "any captives with (Islamic State) will be very difficult for Qatar to free, while others with different groups would be easier".

IS has threatened to kill another US reporter, Steven Sotloff, if airstrikes sanctioned by President Barack Obama in Iraq continue.

Mr Curtis, who is from Boston and has written books under the name Theo Padnos, was abducted near the Syria-Turkey border in October 2012

In a video statement released by kidnappers during his captivity, Mr Curtis said he "had everything" he needed and "everything has been perfect, food, clothing, even friends now".

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Video Shows Collapse Of 12-Storey Gaza Tower

Amateur video footage has emerged of the moment an apartment building in downtown Gaza City was hit by Israeli missiles.

Huge fireballs can be seen erupting after the missiles strike the 12-storey Zafer Tower, part of a group of high rises in the Tel al Hawa neighbourhood.

The building collapses in a cloud of smoke shortly afterwards.

Some 100,000 Gazans have become homeless, with more than 17,000 homes destroyed or damaged beyond repair so far during the conflict, says the UN.

However, Saturday's incident is the first time an entire apartment building has been destroyed.

Smoke billows from the collapsed apartments

The Israeli military said the target was a Hamas operations room in the building, but did not say why the whole tower with 44 apartments was brought down.

Police in Gaza said a warning missile was fired five minutes before impact and some residents were able to get out of the building in time.

Gaza hospital officials said 22 people were wounded, including 11 children and five women.

Resident Maher Abu Sedo said two strikes came within seconds of each other.

"People started shouting Allahu Akbar, and women and kids were screaming," he said.

A warning missile was fired by Israel five minutes before impact

"This is crazy. The state of Israel has resorted to madness.

"In less than a minute, 44 families have become displaced ... They lost everything, their house, their money, their memories and their security."

Elsewhere in Gaza, an airstrike on a car killed a man and wounded 11 people, according to Ayman Sahabani, head of the emergency room at Shifa Hospital.

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine later said the man was a field commander.

Militants in Gaza fired more than 100 rockets and mortar shells at Israel on Saturday.

Firemen at the scene of the mortar attack that killed a four-year-old boy

They came a day after a shell from the territory hit a farming village in southern Israel and killed a four-year-old boy.

Israeli media reported that many residents of communities near the Gaza border were leaving their homes to head for safer areas following the death in the Nahal Oz kibbutz.

Since the fighting began on July 8, Israel has launched some 5,000 airstrikes on Gaza, while militants have fired almost 4,000 rockets and mortars, according to Israel.

More than 2,100 Palestinians, the majority of them civilians, have been killed, according to the UN and Palestinian health officials.

Sixty-four Israeli soldiers and four civilians have also died.

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Blasts In Iraq As UN Warns Of Town 'Massacre'

The United Nations has warned of a "possible massacre" in the Iraqi town of Amerli, which has been besieged by Islamic State (IS) militants.

The UN's Special Envoy to the country said immediate action was needed to protect 17,000 people in Amerli.

Nickolay Mladenov said reports "confirm that people are surviving in desperate conditions" and there is "unspeakable suffering".

A Shia Turkmen fighter in Amerli

Shia Turkmen residents of the town, in the Salaheddin province north of Baghdad, have been cut off from food and water supplies by IS for months.

Iraq's prime minister designate Haidar al Abadi has promised aid for them.

Meanwhile, the UK Government has appointed Lieutenant General Sir Simon Mayall as security envoy to the Kurdistan region of Iraq to help with efforts to defeat IS, also known as ISIL.

Firefighters battle against flames at the scene of a car bombing in Kirkuk

A Downing Street spokesperson said: "General Mayall will support Kurdish and wider Iraqi efforts to counter ISIL and work with Iraq's leaders as they establish a unity government."

The UK is also planning to supply goods to Iraqi forces.

"Work is underway to supply non-lethal equipment to Kurdish forces in the coming days, including night vision equipment and body armour," the Downing Street spokesperson said.

Kurdish security forces inspect the site of a car bombing in Irbil

There has been fighting around towns including Jalula and Sa'dya, which have been controlled by the well-armed Sunni extremists for weeks.

At least 30 people were killed in explosions in Baghdad and the northern city of Kirkuk, where three blasts went off in a crowded commercial area.

In the capital, a suicide bomber drove a car full of explosives into the gate of the intelligence headquarters in the Karrada district - killing civilians and security personnel.

Sky's Stuart Ramsay outside the town of Jalula

In Irbil, the capital of the Kurdistan region, local media said a car bomb had exploded on Saturday.

Ramsay, reporting from north of Baghdad, said a mosque attack on Friday in which more than 60 Sunni Muslims were killed, is "likely to have been the catalyst" for the latest spike in violence.

Officials say a suicide bomber blew himself up on Friday in the Imam Wais mosque in Diyala province, north of the capital, with Shia militiamen picking off fleeing worshippers with machine guns.

The US says the killing of James Foley was a "terrorist attack" on America

The attack is seen as a blow to government efforts to secure backing from Sunni groups in its battle against IS extremists.

Having poured in from Syria across a desert border that it does not recognise, the Islamist movement has declared its own caliphate

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Ukraine Military Parade On Independence Day

Ukraine is marking 24 years of independence from the Soviet Union with a military parade in Kiev.

It comes a day after an unauthorised Russian convoy crossed back over the border, and fighting continues in eastern Ukraine between government forces and pro-Russian separatists.

President Petro Poroshenko has pledged to re-equip his nation's military

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said the country faced a military threat "for the foreseeable future", and pledged $3bn to re-equip his nation's forces.

Speaking to a crowd of thousands: "It is clear that in the foreseeable future, unfortunately, a constant military threat will hang over Ukraine.

"And we need to learn not only to live with this, but also to be always prepared to defend the independence of our country."

Ahead of the parade getting under way, shelling struck a hospital in the rebel-held eastern city of Donetsk.

The morgue bore the brunt of the attack, taking a direct hit.

Stunned patients, being treated in nearby buildings, looked on as separatist fighters inspected the scene.

Rocket attacks on Donetsk have become common as government troops seek to drive out rebel forces, causing several hundred thousand civilians to flee.

The United Nations estimates the fighting has claimed 2,000 lives since April.

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US Creeps To Decision On Islamic State Threat

Washington has crept to a decision. It's time to do something about the threat posed by the Islamic State.

There's now no lack of senior officials describing the problem.

"This is an organisation that has an apocalyptic, end-of-days strategic vision and which will eventually have to be defeated," General Martin Dempsey, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said.

"They are beyond just a terrorist group. They marry ideology, a sophistication of ... military prowess. They are tremendously well-funded. This is beyond anything we've seen," said his boss Chuck Hagel, the US Secretary of Defence.

But how do you solve a problem on this scale?

Militarily there may be a short term effect from intensifying American airstrikes.

Car used by IS fighters is destoyed in a US airstrike

Widening the target list of IS forces across Iraq to include vulnerable areas on the edge of the Kurdish region and around Baghdad would at least stem the tide.

It might also buy some time for specialists to re-train the Iraqi army and for the central government to form a more inclusive administration involving Sunnis who for now may be supporting the IS.

But rolling back the IS in Iraq would take a much bigger air campaign.

That would risk killing Sunnis and painting the Baghdad government as lackeys of American imperialism.

And pushing IS back in Iraq would still leave its Syrian heartland as a base from which to continue to launch attacks, as well as terror operations beyond its borders.

Red shows areas controlled by IS, yellow shows areas of fighting

"To your question, can they be defeated without addressing that part of their organisation which resides in Syria? The answer is no. That will have to be addressed on both sides of what is essentially at this point a non-existent border," General Dempsey said.

So airstrikes against IS in Syria may be called for - even if this risks empowering the Damascus regime.

Syria has complex air defence systems. If it did not approve of the attacks on its enemy, IS, then these would need to be destroyed to allow for an effective air campaign against the Islamic state.

A rapidly widening air war could lead to more complexities on the ground.

Amid all the talk of attacking IS, many ordinary people, voters, in the West may favour a 'leave-well-alone' policy.

With the US and UK political elite facing elections next year this view may concentrate their minds on sitting on their hands.

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