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It was not immediately clear if the support prefigured a quick end to the fighting in eastern Ukraine between pro-Russia separatists and Ukrainian forces.

Putin, whose country is accused by Kiev and the West of arming and supporting the rebels, was to speak to reporters separately.The presidents of Russia and Ukraine have sat down to crunch one-on-one talks over heavy fighting in east Ukraine as the Kremlin admitted for the first time its troops had entered its neighbour’s territory.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and Vladimir Putin began a key bilateral meeting on Tuesday after six hours of difficult negotiations alongside top EU officials in Minsk aimed at defusing a crisis some fear could lead to all-out war between Kiev and Moscow.

 

There had seemed little hope for a major breakthrough after the conflict appeared to escalate when Ukraine released footage hours ahead of the talks purporting to show 10 Russian soldiers it had captured on its territory.

A Moscow military source claimed the soldiers had crossed into Ukraine “by accident”.

“In Minsk at this meeting the fate of the world and Europe is being decided,” Poroshenko said in Russian as the earlier roundtable meeting started with Putin alongside top EU representatives and the leaders of Kazakhstan and Belarus.

 

Putin, however, barely mentioned the brutal fighting that has killed some 2,200 people in the east of Ukraine since April in remarks at the start of the group talks, focusing instead on the damage Kiev’s recent agreement with the EU could have on Russia’s economy.

On Tuesday it was announced that the Russian economy is nearing recession. At the same time it was also reported that the Ukrainian currency slid to a new record low against the dollar.

On the ground, battles raged in east Ukraine, an AFP journalist reported fierce shelling in a town close to the Russian border where Kiev accuses Moscow of trying to open up a “new front” into government-held territory.

 

Kiev’s security service said on Monday that paratroopers from Russia’s 98th airborne division had been captured by Ukrainian forces about 50km southeast of the main rebel stronghold of Donetsk.

Ukrainian media aired footage purporting to show the Russians telling an interrogator that they crossed into Ukraine in armoured convoys.

A Russian defence ministry source on Tuesday said soldiers had been “taking part in patrolling a section of the Russian-Ukrainian border”.

“They crossed it most likely by accident, on an unequipped, unmarked section”, Russian news agencies quoted the source as saying.

Ukraine’s forces accused Russian troops of trying to open a “new front” after an armoured convoy crossed onto government-held territory Monday in the south of Donetsk region.

Kiev also accused Russian army helicopters of launching a ferocious missile attack on a Ukrainian border position further to the north, killing four border guards and bringing the death toll to 12 soldiers in the past 24 hours.