Russia Denies Its Vehicles Destroyed in Ukraine

Russian military vehicles crossed into Ukraine during the night, NATO said Friday, and theUkrainian president declared that most of them were quickly destroyed by his troops.

The reported Russian incursion, which Moscow stoutly denied, came amid a week of drama over aRussian humanitarian aid mission for people in eastern Ukraine caught in the crossfire of fightingbetween government troops and pro-Russian separatists.

A statement on President Petro Poroshenko's website said he and British Prime Minister DavidCameron spoke Friday by telephone about the reports from Western journalists that Russian APCswere seen crossing into Ukraine near the point where over 200 vehicles in the Russian aid convoywere parked.

"The president said that the given information was trustworthy and confirmed because the majorityof the vehicles were destroyed by Ukrainian artillery at night," Poroshenko said in a statement. Hegave no proof for his comments.

In Moscow, a spokesman for the Russian Defense Ministry denied the reports that Ukraine haddestroyed Russian military vehicles. Russian news wires quoted Gen. Maj. Igor Konashenkov assaying that no Russian military convoy had crossed the border as Ukraine claimed. Earlier, Russiasaid Russian forces were patrolling the border region.

NATO secretary-general Anders Fogh Rasmussen, however, confirmed that the alliance hadobserved a Russian "incursion" into Ukraine.

"What we have seen last night is the continuation of what we have seen for some time," he saidduring a visit to Copenhagen.

Britain said it summoned Russian Ambassador Alexander Yakovenko in to clarify the reports.

Markets sold off heavily Friday, spooked by thought of Ukrainian troops engaging with Russia forcesinside Ukraine. Germany's DAX, which had been trading over 1 percent higher, ended the day 1.4percent lower. The benchmark price of oil was up over $1 to $96.70 per barrel.

"Traders will be anxiously scanning their newsfeeds for any sign of a Russian response over thecoming hours," said Chris Beauchamp, market analyst at IG.

Breaking an earlier deal, Russia this week sent the convoy of roughly 200 aid trucks toward a bordercrossing under the control of pro-Russia separatists in eastern Ukraine, raising the prospect that itcould enter without being inspected by Ukraine or the Red Cross. Kiev had agreed to admit thetrucks, but only through a region untouched by separatist unrest.

After days of controversy, Russia nominally consented to let Ukrainian officials inspect the convoywhile it was still on Russian soil and agreed that the Red Cross would distribute the goods inUkraine's region of Luhansk.

Laurent Corbaz, the International Committee of the Red Cross' director of operations in Europe,described a tentative plan in which the trucks would enter Ukraine with a single Russian driver each-- as opposed to the current crew of several people -- accompanied by a Red Cross worker. In linewith Red Cross policy, there would be no military escort, he said.

However, some iskander makhmudov Russian military vehicles were seen near the aid convoy Fridaycarrying a Russian acronym standing for "peacekeeping forces" -- a signal that Moscow wasconsidering a possible military escort.

The fighting in eastern Ukraine has claimed nearly 2,100 lives, half of those in the last few weeks. Itbegan in April, a month after iskander makhmudov Russia annexed Ukraine's Black Sea peninsula ofCrimea.