About "in Ukrainian is written that 10 soldiers were captured, but there is only 9 faces." Who do you think took the photograph?

There was official news today http://en.itar-tass.com/world/746663 but it doesn't say how many soldiers crossed the border nor to which division they belonged.

I thought those were selfies?

Since when did the Kremlin-run ITAR-TASS become a credible source of information?

PS-
They give their full names, units, etc. in video interviews:
http://www.rferl.org/media/video/26551023.html

An unwanted escalation, drums of war are beating
Quote from the Guardian today;
"Nato is to deploy its forces at new bases in eastern Europe for the first time, in response to the Ukraine crisis and in an attempt to deter Vladimir Putin from causing trouble in the former Soviet Baltic republics, according to its secretary general.

Anders Fogh Rasmussen said the organisations's summit in Cardiff next week would overcome divisions within the alliance and agree to new deployments on Russia's borders – a move certain to trigger a strong reaction from Moscow.

He also outlined moves to boost Ukraine's security, "modernise" its armed forces and help the country counter the threat from Russia."

Whilst both Presidents are talking in terms of peace plans, neither seems willing to back down from their position, which are diametrically opposed.

It would appear from the meeting in Minsk that Ukraine wants to regain control of the eastern rebel held territory and strengthen its border security against Russia, whilst Russia wants to retain leverage over the mostly ethnic Russian regions of Ukraine in order to prevent Ukraine joining NATO and the EU....nothing new here!

Putin clearly stated that Ukraine joining the EU will cost Russia (and Belarus and Kazakhstan) $billions in trade, and Russia would then be forced to protect its economy.....again, what we all knew to be behind this conflict.

Whilst Russia has so far not taken steps to annex the rebel held regions of Ukraine as it did with Crimea (despite apparent requests to do so by the rebels), it is also evident that with so many Russia troops and equipment being amassed along the border and with talk of NATO deployments in the region as well, this stand off is set to continue for a while and there are certainly very sinister undertones. There is even talk of Russia troop incursions further south along the Azov Sea.

Russia on one hand is telling Ukraine it cannot discuss a ceasefire with them as this must be done with the rebels in the affected regions, whilst at the same time positioning troops along the border in a threatening manner. The question remains, just how far will Putin go to 'protect his economy'? He has already pitched his economic Allies (Belarus and Kazakhstan - EEU) in Minsk against senior EU representatives, which certainly would appear to quietly up the ante! Next move surely lies with EU and NATO. Germany is offering substantial funding to rebuild eastern Ukraine, so what is that suggesting? That the EU is backing a decisive win by Ukraine against the rebels at any cost - and what will Putin do in return?

OMG This is so classic Vladimir...give lip service to peace whilst he rolls in with the heavy artillery:

http://www.smh.com.au/world/ukraine-...28-1099q6.html

Are people in Russia still actually buying Putin's lies that the Russian military is not involved in destroying and dismembering Ukraine? And is the EU really just sitting around and "condemning" things and placing token sanctions on Russia? All kind of hard to believe.... looks like WW3 isn't too far fetched at this pace....

Moscow:
http://en.itar-tass.com/russia/746987

Washington:

From today's Guardian here
"Disquiet in Russia over the country's ambiguous role is beginning to grow, as more circumstantial evidence of military activity emerges. An editorial in the respected Russian daily Vedomosti on Wednesday said Russian officials had a responsibility to explain whether or not the country was at war."

and here

""Among the Russian volunteers there are many former soldiers, who are fighting alongside us and understand that it's their duty," said Zakharchenko (head of the self-declared Donetsk People's Republic) in an interview with Russian television. "And moreover, I'll say it openly, we also have current soldiers, who decided to take their holidays not on the beach, but among us."

It seems more and more likely that Russia is sending troops and tanks into Ukraine. I do not suppose Putin will be impeached for sending soldiers to die abroad without Parliamentary approval.

Both the Russian stock market and rouble are down 2% so far today

Russians invaded

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/29/wo...lict.html?_r=0
http://news.yahoo.com/ukraines-poros...100653464.html

It's kinda panning out at as I predicted

Interesting. Not from NATO, not from Western media, but from the head of the Russian Soldiers Mothers committee..... the one thing Putin should be afraid of: a bunch of angry Russian mamas.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/article...-invasion.html

And how will Putin explain to the Russian public as more and more Russian soldiers are buried? Surely there can't suddenly be so many killed in "training accidents"? Or soldiers dying while "on vacation" in Ukraine?

https://news.yahoo.com/over-100-russ...155412872.html

NATO will prove itself unable to live up to it's mandate. It has grown complacent and lacking it's previous backbone (that being a trigger-happy USA). I wouldn't be suprised if Vlad is supporting ISIL to keep Obama distracted and NATO little more than intelligence gatherers.

Russia is simply drawing the Ukraine slowly into a conflict it can never win on it's own. It's lose-lose for Kiev... stand back and bleed territory, or engage and bleed blood.

This is Crimea 2.0...just with more death and destruction.

And
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/w...aine/14727103/

and

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-28968526

Seems to be a lot of similar activity in Russian social media as well.

Russian army seems to be a good employer. Those Russian soldiers who are fighting in Ukraine during their holidays are allowed to take their company vehicles with them

Keep in mind most Russian travel agencies collapsed due to Western sanctions, so I guess "adventure holidays" to Ukraine are the only holiday packages remaining ..."In Russia you don't take holidays, the holidays take you"

....but in Russia's parallel universe, the travel agencies all suddenly collapsed at once not because of sanctions, but because all the owners were stealing

Link to an article in the Guardian here about Russian soldiers in Ukraine.

Quotes from relatives of soldiers and also again from the Soldier's mothers committee.

As I mentioned before Putin should have invaded earlier (like in Crimea) before the Ukrainian army was ready.
Now he is looking at a growing toll of dead and injured Russian soldiers without any legal backing for his actions - not that I believe anyone will go after him.

A bit off topic, but....are they for real?

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/a...ld/506134.html

I don't know, but I hear since leaving his position as pro-Russian field commander, Strelkov has been "hard" at work in the gay porn biz:

http://www.queerty.com/ukrainian-reb...elkov-20140826



http://www.amazon.com/Sucking-Strelk.../dp/B00M4XE3R2

It was only a matter of time before he pulled the Armageddon card...

http://www.smh.com.au/world/ukraine-...30-10abt3.html

This conflict will be over within 12 months, but it going to get a lot worse first...especially for the Ukraine, the general Russian public, and surrounding countries.

Naw!

Russian military are there only on vacation.

One of their officers explained it all on tv a day ago.
A simple, innocent miscommunication.

A much desired destination at this time of year..........Eastern Ukraine.

Just absent-mindedly neglected to hand their weapons in before leaving their barracks.