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West warns Russia not to use humanitarian mission as a pretext to invade Ukraine
The UK and US governments have advised Russia against using humanitarian assistance as a cover-up for sending troops to eastern Ukraine.
"I am deeply concerned by reports of an increased flow of heavy weapons crossing into Ukrainian sovereign territory from Russia and by reports of Russian armed forces exercising for a 'humanitarian intervention' in a third country,” said UK foreign secretary Philip Hammond.
"The conditions for such an intervention in eastern Ukraine manifestly do not exist. In these circumstances, such an intervention would be unjustified and illegal."
US ambassador to the UN, Samantha Power, said that an intervention of this sort would be "completely unacceptable" and "viewed as an invasion of Ukraine".
The warning follows heavy fighting that occurred yesterday between the Ukrainian government and pro-Russian rebels near the Russian border.
Earlier this week, NATO warned that around 20,000 Russian troops had amassed at the border, and that this could signal an imminent invasion of Ukraine.
On Thursday, Russia announced that it was placing a full embargo on food imports from the US and some European countries, in what was viewed as a retaliation against increasing sanctions placed on Russia by the West.