ANTI-KIEV rebels responded positively today to a call from Russian President Vladimir Putin to release government soldiers surrounded in eastern Ukraine.

“I’m calling on insurgents to open a humanitarian corridor for Ukrainian troops who are surrounded in order to avoid senseless deaths,” Mr Putin said early yesterday morning.

Donetsk rebel leader Alexander Zakharchenko promptly reacted to Mr Putin’s appeal but insisted that the Kiev troops would have to lay down their arms first.

“With all our respect to Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, the president of a country which gives us moral support, we are ready to open humanitarian corridors to the Ukrainian troops who were surrounded with the condition that they surrender heavy weaponry and ammunition so that it will not be used against us in future,” Mr Zakharchenko said.

According to the rebels, up to 7,000 Ukrainian troops are trapped at several locations in the Donbass region.

Somewhat ungraciously, Kiev immediately asserted that Mr Putin’s call for separatists to open a humanitarian corridor was further proof the rebels were “led and controlled directly from the Kremlin.”

Mr Putin’s appeal came several hours after Ukraine accused Russia of entering its territory with tanks, artillery and troops and Western powers accused Moscow of lying about its role.

Nato insisted that at least 1,000 Russian troops were in Ukraine and released satellite photos of alleged Russian self-propelled artillery units.

Mr Putin did not address the claims. Instead, he lauded the Donbass fighters for “undermining Kiev’s military operation which threatened the lives of the residents of Donbass and has already led to a colossal death toll among civilians.”

Meanwhile, US President Barack Obama ruled out a military confrontation between the US and Russia, although he warned that Russian activity in Ukraine would incur “costs and consequences.”

He alleged that Russia “had deliberately and repeatedly violated the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine and the new images of Russian forces inside Ukraine make that plain for the world to see.”

And German Chancellor Angela Merkel assured Kiev leader Petro Poroshenko of her support for “decisive actions” at a European Council meeting tomorrow.