Hundreds of Ukraine troops cross into Russia 

More than 400 Ukrainian soldiers have crossed the border into Russia and deserted the Kiev government, according to an Interfax news agency report quoting a border security official.

Ukraine confirmed the crossing, which happened on Monday, but said the soldiers were forced into Russian territory by rebel fire.
Vasily Malayev, head of the Federal Security Service's border patrol in the Rostov region, told Interfax that 438 Ukrainian soldiers had reached Russia on Monday.
He said the Russian side had opened a safe corridor for the soldiers into Russia. Late on Monday, Malayev said 180 of the troops had since been returned to Ukraine after consultations with Kiev while the rest were deciding what to do next.
The Ukrainian military confirmed that part of a brigade had most likely crossed into Russian territory, although it disputed Russia's version of events and would not say how many soldiers had crossed the border.
A spokesman for the Ukrainian military operation in the east, Oleksiy Dmitrashkovsky, said troops from the army's 72nd brigade were penned into their position and came under a sustained barrage of rocket attacks from separatist forces.
Rebel fighters fired for four hours from multiple heavy weapons, including tanks, mortars, artillery and Grad missile launchers, Dmitrashkovsky said, and eventually the brigade was forced to divide up into two sections to break out.