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            NATO to Meet on Ukraine as Condemnation of Russia Mounts

   by VOA News

   NATO holds an emergency meeting in Brussels Friday to discuss the
   crisis in Ukraine, as Western leaders offered a growing condemnation of
   Russian-backed violence in the eastern part of the country.

   President Barack Obama said Thursday it is "plain for the world to see"
   Russian forces have entered eastern Ukraine. He accused Moscow of
   "deliberately and repeatedly" violating Ukraine's territorial
   integrity.

   While Obama again ruled out U.S. military action, he said Washington
   will stand firm with its European allies to address the crisis and
   warned Moscow will likely face additional economic sanctions from the
   West.

   U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Samantha Power used even more forceful
   language to condemn Russia. At an emergency meeting of the U.N.
   Security Council, Power said Moscow has "outright lied" about its
   involvement in Ukraine.

   "At every step, Russia has come before this council to say everything
   except the truth. It has manipulated. It has obfuscated. It has
   outright lied. So we have learned to measure Russia by its actions and
   not by its words. In the last 48 hours, Russia's actions have spoken
   volumes," said Powers.

   For his part, Russian U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin accused the Kyiv
   government of "waging war against its own people" in Russian-speaking
   eastern Ukraine. Churkin, however, did not deny the involvement of
   Russian forces in the area.

   NATO said about 1,000 Russian troops are operating inside of eastern
   Ukraine, with about 20,000 more marshaled on the border. Officials also
   released satellite images that they say show Russian combat forces
   engaged in military operations inside Ukraine.

   Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said Thursday that Russian
   soldiers and armaments had crossed into eastern Ukraine and seized the
   port town of Novoazovsk.

   Ukraine defense officials said Russian armored vehicles had surrounded
   the town and that several nearby villages were also seized.

   The latest Russian moves along Ukraine's southeastern frontier have
   raised international concerns that Moscow wants to create a land link
   between Russia and Crimea -- the Ukrainian peninsula annexed by Russia
   in March.

   U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said if the reports of a Russian
   troop presence are true, they mark a "dangerous escalation" in
   Ukraine's crisis.  He said the international community cannot allow the
   situation to escalate further.
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   [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/ukraine-russia-nato/2431903.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/ukraine-russia-nato/2431903.html