Merkel, Obama condemn convoys

In a telephone call between President Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel early Saturday, both leaders warned that Russia was triggering a "dangerous escalation" of the conflict in Ukraine.

The phone call comes after dozens of trucks from a Russian aid convoy crossed the border into eastern Ukraine earlier Friday, without Kyiv's permission.

Obama and Merkel "agreed that Russia sending a convoy into Ukraine without Ukraine's approval is a further provocation and a violation of Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity," the White House said.

The leaders said that the presence of Russian soldiers in Ukraine, the buildup of Russian troops along the Ukrainian border and Russian shelling of Ukrainian territory all "represent a dangerous escalation" of tensions by Moscow.

Obama and Merkel also agreed that Russia must remove the convoy and withdraw from Ukraine.

The phone call comes on the eve of a visit by Merkel to Ukraine to meet with President Petro Poroshenko.

"The trip to Kyiv is difficult and is an expression of support," said Merkel's spokesman, Steffen Seibert. "Our aim is for both sides to agree to a ceasefire."

Merkel had earlier spoken on the phone to Russian President Vladimir Putin and Poroshenko, where she said Moscow's move risked escalating an already tense situation.

Putin rejected criticism from Merkel, saying he had to make a decision after Kyiv repeatedly delayed approval for the Russian trucks.

UNSC members condemn Russia

In a closed-door emergency meeting at the United Nations Security Council in New York on Friday, several countries lashed out at Russia for "what many called an illegal and unilateral action by the Russian federation," British Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant, the council president, told reporters.

During the meeting, Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin insisted the trucks carried aid materials such as food, medical supplies, electric generators and sleeping bags.

Earlier Friday, Ukraine's state security chief Valentin Nalivaychenko said Moscow's decision to start sending the trucks across the border constituted a "direct invasion" and a "well-planned dangerous provocation," according to the Interfax Ukraine news agency.

In Brussels, NATO's secretary general Anders Fogh Rasmussen condemned Russia for sending a "so-called humanitarian convoy" into Ukraine.

He said the decision was a "blatant breech of Russia's international commitments" and that it "only deepens the crisis."

hc/av (Reuters, AFP, AP, dpa)