Here is the most telling of recent statements by the self-proclaimed prime minister of the "Donetsk People's Republic," Oleksandr Zakharchenko, speaking during a meeting on August 15 of that separatist group's "supreme council" in Donetsk, Ukraine. His remarks appeared in video published on August 16 via a YouTube channel of Novorossia TV, which is run by pro-Russian separatists, claiming the separatists have received weaponry and fighters from Russia.
"The following reserves have been accumulated lately: 150 pieces of military equipment consisting of about 30 tanks -- the rest are armored personnel carriers; 1,200 fighters who have undergone training on the territory of the Russian Federation over the course of the last four months. They have reached us at the most critical moment."
Here's today's situation map from the Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council:
Adding to the maelstrom of conflicting information around the Russian convoy:
Meanwhile, there appear to be other pro-Russian convoys in and around eastern Ukraine, too.
Major breakthrough that could allow this first group of trucks -- which approached the border despite Red Cross suggesting it wouldn't be officially inspecting trucks today -- to pass into Ukraine. This is a bit of a dicey proposition.
Pro-Kyiv forces have retaken a police station in the beseiged city of Luhansk and raised the Ukrainian flag on the building, a spokesman said.
Luhansk is where some of the worst fighting has occurred, and has been a hotbed of insurrection from early in the unrest. Here's early video of the storming and occupation of the SBU (State Security Service) headquarters in Luhansk from April 6:
Inexplicably, since the International Committee of the Red Cross has already said it doesn't expect to even begin inspections of the trucks' contents today -- which is essential to any ICRC mission -- a contingent of 16 trucks from Russia's "humanitarian" convoy has reportedly "arrived at Russia's Donetsk border checkpoint," according to an ITAR-TASS correspondent and multiple reports and tweets from international journalists following the convoy's movements.
The ITAR-TASS report claims that "Before the [16] trucks left for the border, ICRC representatives inspected randomly [sic] the trucks."
These were not official ICRC inspections, it is clear, so the ITAR-TASS report is misleading in that respect.
The ICRC said earlier today in Moscow that its people were "not yet inspecting the contents but are just looking at the convoy."
There is also this from Ukraine's Security and Defense Council:
A Ukrinform report alleges a major column -- including 120 Russian transporters, 30 tanks -- "came from the Russian border" and was spotted near Dubrovka, Ukraine. It reportedly took 40 minutes for the column to pass. There's related video at the bottom.