海角大神

NATO is alleging today that at least 1,000 Russian combat troops are now operating inside Ukrainian territory:

The Ukrainians themselves are saying that Russian tanks have also entered the country:

The presence of Russian troops in Ukraine has, of course, been something of an open secret for some time now. There have been intelligence officers and special forces on the ground there at various points in time ever since the crisis in eastern Ukraine began. For the most part, though, they have lived in the shadows and seem to have been playing more an advisory and logistical role. There have also been reports about Russian units 鈥渕istakenly鈥� crossing the border, a phenomenon which led to this amusing tweet from the Canada鈥檚 NATO delegation. However, if these reports are true. than it would appear that Russia has decided to significantly ramp up its involvement in the rebellion in eastern Ukraine and, essentially, become a combatant along side the pro-Russian separatists against the Ukrainian military. That, quite obviously, is a significant escalation and one that would seem guaranteed to thrust this story back on to the front pages of newspapers around the world.

Inevitably, of course, the question will become how the West will respond to this latest move. There is already talk of increased sanctions, but given the fact that we鈥檝e already seen the Vladimir Putin doesn鈥檛 seem to be all that deterred by economic sanctions against his country, it鈥檚 unclear exactly what we can do that would deter him from that course. In any event, expect to hear more about this in the days to come, as the world鈥檚 attention once again shifts from the Middle East back to Eastern Europe.

Doug Mataconis appears on the Outside the Beltway blog at http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/.