Diplomatic efforts to douse an international firestorm over claims that Ukraine's forces destroyed Russian military vehicles ratcheted up Saturday as Moscow demanded that Kiev allow its mammoth aid convoy to cross the volatile border. Moscow and Kiev's foreign ministers prepared for an urgent meeting with their French and German counterparts Sunday after the United States blasted Russia for its "extremely dangerous" escalation of the crisis in Ukraine.
French President Francois Hollande meanwhile urged Ukraine to show "restraint and good judgement" as it pushed on with a brutal offensive to oust insurgents after four months of fighting that has killed over 2,000 people and left the region facing a humanitarian disaster. The latest spike in tensions came after Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko claimed his troops had blown up part of a small Russian military convoy that British media spotted breaching the porous frontier on Thursday.