The United States released satellite images it says show rockets have been fired from Russia into neighboring eastern Ukraine on Sunday, according to The Associated Press.
The images came from the U.S. Director of National Intelligence and could not be independently verified by the AP. The four-page memo is part of the Obama administration's push to hold Russia accountable for its activities in neighboring Ukraine, and the release could help to persuade the United States' European allies to apply harsher sanctions on Russia.
The images show blast marks where rockets were launched and craters where they landed, according to the AP.
The U.S. images claim to show multiple rocket launchers fired at Ukrainian forces from within Ukraine and from Russian soil, the AP reported. One image shows dozens of craters around a Ukrainian military unit and rockets that can travel more than seven miles.
Officials said the images show heavy weapons fired between July 21 and July 26, after the July 17 downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, the AP reported.
The Pentagon said just days ago that the movement of Russian heavy-caliber artillery systems across its border into Ukraine was "imminent," according to the AP.
The memo said one image provides evidence that Russian forces have "fired across the border at Ukrainian military forces and that Russian-backed separatists have used heavy artillery provided by Russia in attacks on Ukrainian forces from inside Ukraine," the AP reported.
Another satellite image depicted in the memo shows "ground scarring at multiple rocket launch sites on the Russian side of the border oriented in the direction of Ukraine military units within Ukraine," according to the AP.
Russia's foreign ministry accused the U.S. of conducting "an unrelenting campaign of slander against Russia, ever more relying on open lies" and has angrily denied allegations of Russia's involvement in eastern Ukraine, the AP reported.
Secretary of State John Kerry spoke by phone Sunday with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, urging him to stop the flow of heavy weapons and rocket and artillery fire from Russia into Ukraine, according to the AP.
"The wide areas of impact near the Ukrainian military units indicates fire from multiple rocket launchers," the memo said, the AP reported.
Moreover, the memo included a satellite image that it called evidence of self-propelled artillery only found in Russian military units "on the Russian side of the border oriented in the direction of a Ukrainian military unit within Ukraine," according to the AP.
