Russia\\\'s Putin urges release of Ukrainian soldiers

Russia's President Vladimir Putin on Friday called on pro-Russian separatists to release Ukrainian soldiers who have been surrounded by the rebels in eastern Ukraine. Putin's statement came several hours after Ukraine accused Russia of entering its territory with tanks, artillery and troops, and Western powers accused Moscow of lying about its role and dangerously escalating the conflict. NATO said at least 1,000 Russian troops are in Ukraine and later released what it said were satellite photos of Russian self-propelled artillery units moving last week. ‘I'm calling on insurgents to open a humanitarian corridor for Ukrainian troops who were surrounded in order to avoid senseless deaths,’ Putin said in the statement published on the Kremlin's web-site in the early hours on Friday. Putin did not address the claims about Russia's military presence in Ukraine. Instead, he lauded the pro-Russian separatists whom he described as ‘insurgents’ for ‘undermining Kiev's military operation which threatened lives of the residents of Donbass and has already led to a colossal death toll among civilians,’ according to AP.