ANTI-KIEV separatist forces opened a new front in eastern Ukraine today, pushing into the port of Novoazovsk following an artillery barrage.

Oleg Sidorkin, the mayor of the town on the Sea of Azov, confirmed the rebels’ entry.

Seven villages to the north of Novoazovsk were also captured by the separatists, Kiev officials admitted.

Ukrainian National Security Council spokesman Colonel Andriy Lysenko asserted that “Novoazovsk is being shelled both from Russia and from positions on Ukrainian territory.”

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, whose forces have been bombing civilian areas around the rebel-held cities of Donetsk and Lugansk, had earlier promised a “road map” for peace in the east of the country.

He made the statement at a regional summit in neighbouring Belarus where he held direct talks with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.

Mr Putin said that Moscow would assist with a dialogue, but he insisted that stopping the fighting was a matter for Kiev alone.

The Russian leader said that agreement had been reached with Ukraine on further Russian humanitarian aid deliveries to east Ukraine.

However, the Ukrainian security forces’ propaganda unit insisted that a column of 100 vehicles had been seen travelling in a southerly direction from Starobesheve to Telmanove.

These vehicles, including tanks, armoured troop carriers and rocket launchers systems, were marked only with “white circles or triangles,” the Anti-Terrorist Operation press centre said.

Fighting took place in Starobesheve on Tuesday night, following which 129 pro-Kiev troops surrendered to the rebels, who reported a further 94 Ukrainian soldiers laying down their arms in Kuteinykove.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk took issue yesterday with President Putin’s constant denials of official Russian military involvement in Ukraine.

“Information, which in recent hours has gained further hard-facts confirmation, is that regular Russian units are operating in eastern Ukraine. This information, coming from Nato and confirmed by our intelligence, is in fact unequivocal,” he declared.

Denis Pushilin, who resigned last month as People’s Republic of Donetsk chairman, said in Moscow yesterday that he had no information on Russian military involvement.

But he said that the Ukrainian separatists had welcomed many volunteers, including from Russia and an increasing number from Serbia.