Prisoners in Ukraine admit to being part of Russian army

Two men captured by Ukrainian troops on Saturday have confessed to being members of the Russian armed forces, according to European mediators. The pair were reportedly interviewed at a military hospital in Kiev by members of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).

"They were armed but had no orders to attack," OSCE said.

Russia has not yet responded to the latest claims, but it had previously said the two men were no longer serving soldiers.

The two men reportedly claim to have travelled to Ukraine on a "reconnaissance mission".

"One of them said he had received orders from his military unit to go to Ukraine. He was to 'rotate' after three months. Both of them said they had been to Ukraine 'on missions' before," the OSCE added.

"One of them stressed repeatedly that there were no Russian troops involved in fighting in Ukraine."

The Ukrainian government, Western leaders and Nato say there is clear evidence that Russia is helping the rebels with heavy weapons and soldiers and independent experts echo that accusation although Moscow continues to deny it, insisting that any Russians serving with the rebels are "volunteers".

The men were wounded and captured by Ukrainian troops in the town of Shchastya, almost 30km from the Russian border on Saturday and they have been charged with involvement in "terrorist activity".

Igor Konashenkov, a spokesman for Russia's ministry of defence, said on Monday that the two detainees were not serving soldiers, but former ones. He claimed they had been mistreated by Ukrainian special forces who had "beat convenient testimony out of them".

Rebels in eastern Ukraine said the men were policemen from Ukraine's Luhansk region.

More than 6,000 people have been killed in fighting that began in April 2014 when rebels seized large parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.