THE RUSSIAN-UKRAINEAN CONFLICT, ABOUT TO EXPLODE Military sources: "Vladimir Putin wants to cut off Ukraine's access to the Black Sea"

Yesterday afternoon, Ukraine summoned its Security and Defense Council, and president Petro Poroshenko postponed his visit to Turkey, after Russian armed forces allegedly entered the country through the South-East, conquering the city of strategic importance Novoazovsk (port at the Azov Sea), of the Donetsk region, Reuters writes.

The Council has announced on Twitter that other parts of South-Eastern Ukraine have come under the control of Russian forces, which are organizing a counter-offensive, together with insurgents, against the towns of Ilovaysk and Shahtarsk, to the South-East of the city of Donetsk. The institution mentioned that the troops of Kyiv withdrew from Novoazovsk "to save their lives" and have begun regrouping in Mariupol, another port-city of the region of Donetsk, located 47 km west of Novoazovsk, according to the quoted source.

Military sources told us: "Vladimir Putin will not stop. He wants to connect Russia to Crimea. The Russians have no connection between Crimea and Russia on land and they are now creating one. After that, they will go along the coast line, all the way to Odessa.

In fact, Vladimir Putin wants to cut off Ukraine's access to the Black Sea. Now, the Russian offensive is focusing on Mariupol, which is the second most important port after the one of Odessa".

Russia has over 1,000 soldiers operating in Ukraine, NATO warned yesterday, and Moscow is facing increasing evidence of its direct military involvement in the revolt of Ukraine, Financial Times reports.

Dutch Brigade General Nico Tak, Director of Comprehensive Crisis and Operations Management Centre at Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe, said that the Russian army has transferred air defense systems, artillery, tanks and armored personnel carriers to the separatists of eastern Ukraine. This seems to be confirmed by NATO satellite images which Financial Times gained access to.

Gen Tak claims that the moves of the Russian troops on Ukrainian territory were intended to help the pro-Russian separatists. He also said that there are over 20,000 Russian soldiers are mobilized on the Ukraine border.

The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe was told by Russian separatists that no Russian troops are present near the border of Ukraine or on the territory of the latter, rt.com reports.

The suite of accusations concerning the military invasion of Ukraine by Russia has not been backed by real evidence (from the authorities or the mass-media), aside from the claims that there are photographs or mentions of what people have allegedly "seen", the online publication reports.

The Russian representative with the OSCE, Andrey Kelin was adamant in response to the accusations: "We have notified the OSCE that no Russian involvement has been observed, that there are no soldiers or equipment".

Alexander Zakharchenko, a separatist leader, told a Russian television: "There are approximately 3,000- 4,000 Russian citizens fighting alongside the rebels, many of them former soldiers. Furthermore, there are among us, soldiers who have chosen to spend their holidays with us".

Ukraine yesterday asked the European Union to grant it "significant military aid" following "an open Russian invasion", according to Ukrainian ambassador to the EU, Konstiantin Elyseyev, quoted by AFP. "We are calling for an extraordinary session of the European Council, on August 30, on the subject of Ukraine (...). That's enough with the connivance and with the appeasing of the aggressor. Solidarity must be expressed through significant sanctions and through significant military and technical support", said Elyseyev, according to the Facebook page of the EU Ukrainian embassy.

On Monday, the White House said that Russia's "military incursions" on the territory of Ukraine represent a "significant escalation" of the conflict in this country. Russian foreign affairs minister, Sergey Lavrov, denied these accusations, alleging "an information war".

Oettinger: "There is a risk of Ukraine stealing the natural gas that is owed to Europe"

European Commissioner for Energy Gunther Oettinger, is adamant about the conflict concerning natural gas between Russia and Ukraine being resolved as soon as possible and he admitted that during the winter season, Ukraine can steal the gas that has to get to Europe, Itar-Tass agency reports, which quotes an interview which the commissioner granted to TV network ARD. "Ukraine will need natural gas this winter. In the event of a long and cold winter, Ukraine will not have sufficient natural gas reserves of its own and there is a risk of the natural gas disappearing on its way to the West", said Oettinger, who emphasized that it is essential for the EU to prevent further escalation of the Ukrainian conflict.

Commissioner Oettinger also said that Europe started taking its own preventive measures to ensure the necessary natural gas for the winter of 2014-2015. Also, the EU executive bodies are preparing an analysis for the EU summit of October, which would ensure heating for every household in the EU, the financing of infrastructure as well as the preservation of the European industry in the months of November and March, the commissioner said, quoted by Reuters.

Gunther Oettinger, also said yesterday, that the South Stream gas pipeline, a project backed by Russian group Gazprom, can operate in the European Union only in compliance with the European regulations, according to RIA Novosti. "We must state in a single voice that South Stream can exist, but only if it abides by our rules", said Oettinger, who will meet today with Russian energy minister, Alexander Novak, to discuss the future of the supply of natural gas to Europe.

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The ruble weakens to a six-month low against the dollar

• The price of natural gas has reached the highest level since July 25th on the ICE Futures Europe in London

The ruble weakened to a six-months low against the dollar, and the Moscow stock exchange fell 1.9%, following Ukraine's accusations that the fighting against the Russian separatists in the East of the country are in fact a Russian incursion, according to Bloomberg, quoted by Mediafax. France and Germany have threatened the authorities in Moscow with further sanctions, after the pro-Russian separatists took control of several cities outside the regions of Donetsk and Lugansk, including near the Azov Sea.

The Russian ruble weakened 1.6%, to 36.73 units/dollar, the lowest level since March 3rd, when president Vladimir Putin began his intervention in the region of Crimea.

The Micex index of the Moscow stock exchange al fell 1.9%, giving back the gains it saw this week, after Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko asked for an emergency meeting of the National Security and Defense Council due to the escalation of the rebels' offensive.

The UX index of the Ukrainian stock exchange fell 5.8%, the highest since March 3rd, and bonds with a 2017 maturity fell for the 7th day straight, meaning that their yield increased 0.94 percentage point, to 11.87%, the highest level in the last three months.

The Polish zloty fell 0.4% against the Euro, and the stock market indexes of the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland fell at least 1.4%.

The price of natural gas reached the highest level since July 25th, on the ICE Futures Europe in London. Contracts with one month delivery rose by up to 5.7%, to the highest level of the last ten weeks.

Russia supplies approximately 30% of Europe's gas needs, and half of that volume goes through Ukraine.

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LAST MINUTE

Băsescu: "Ukraine has not been the target of an invasion"

President Traian Băsescu said last night that Romania does not consider that Ukraine has been invaded: "The invasion means big army units, and aircraft that invade a territory. So we are not facing an invasion. What is happening is just a significant escalation of the support that Russia granted the separatists".

He said that these conclusions have been derived from the corroborated information included in the reports of the secret services of the Army, the SIE and the SRI and he explained that the support is provided using two means: the infiltration of military specialists as commanding officers, as well as specialists in the operation of the modern war technology that Russia is making available to the separatists as well as the increasing transfer of military equipment to the separatists.

"The cutting edge technology transferred to the separatists requires the transfer of specialists to operate it", said Traian Băsescu.

The president claims that Putin's objective is to create a much bigger Transnistria in Eastern Ukraine to block the ratification of the Agreement of Association to the EU and the potential steps taken by Ukraine to become a member of NATO.

The president considers that am imbalance can occur which would favor the separatists as a result of the escalation of the introduction of military equipment and of specialists, which will lead to the halting of the Ukrainian offensive if the Ukrainian state doesn't take steps to support the superior battle capability it used to have so far.

Romania condemns the actions of the Russian Federation to support the separatists and reiterates its support for Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity.