Kiev (AFP) – Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday hailed the advances of pro-Kremlin fighters in eastern Ukraine as Western alarm spiralled over what Kiev has branded a Russian invasion.NATO ambassadors were holding a crisis meeting after the alliance said Russia had at least 1,000 troops fighting to support a lightning rebel counter-offensive against Ukrainian government forces.The presence of the troops — which Russia has repeatedly denied — has stoked fear of a direct confrontation between Kiev and and its former Soviet masters.Putin symbolically hailed the insurgents as the defenders of New Russia, a Tsarist-era term for Moscow’s former imperial …read more
Source: Business Insider