Reports that Russia has opened a new front in the war in eastern Ukraine Thursday between pro-Russia separatists and the new government of President Petro Poroshenko, led to widespread condemnation.
President Barack Obama, speaking to reporters in Washington, said that Russia’s actions are leaving it isolated from the international community.
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"I just spoke to Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany. We agree that Russia is responsible for the violence in eastern Ukraine," said Obama. "Russia has repeatedly violated the sovereignty and territory of Ukraine."
Obama stopped short of calling it an invasion, and said that a military action from the West is not on the table.
A military truck tows a damaged vehicle through the steppe near the village of Krasnodarovka in Rostov region August 28, 2014. A Reuters reporter saw on Thursday a column of armoured vehicles and dust-covered troops, one of them with an injured face, driving through the Russian steppe just across the border from a part of Ukraine which Kiev says is occupied by Russian troops. None of the men or vehicles had standard military identification marks, but the reporter saw a Mi-8 helicopter with a red star insignia -- consistent with Russian military markings -- land next to a nearby military first aid tent. The column was driving east away from the Ukrainian border across open countryside near the village of Krasnodarovka in Russia's Rostov region. REUTERS/Maria Tsvetkova (RUSSIA - Tags: MILITARY POLITICS CONFLICT) - RTR4449A (Maria Tsvetkova/Reuters)
Instead, increasing economic sanctions will seek to punish Russia.
The president added that he will meet with Porosehnko at the White House in September.
Russia has described the Russian citizens fighting with the separatists as volunteers.
NATO officials said at least 1,000 Russian troops had entered Ukraine. NATO produced satellite images to provide what it called additional evidence that Russian combat soldiers, equipped with sophisticated heavy weaponry, are operating inside Ukraine's sovereign territory.
"This is highly sophisticated weaponry that requires well-trained crews, well-trained command and control elements, and it is extremely unlikely that this sort of equipment is used by volunteers," said Nico Tak, director of NATO's Comprehensive Crisis Operations Management Center.
Tak said the satellite images were only "the tip of the iceberg" in terms of the overall scope of Russian troop and weapons movements.
The new southeastern front raised fears that the separatists are seeking to create a land link between Russia and Crimea, which Russia annexed in March.
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