Donetsk: Ukraine says it has captured two armoured vehicles belonging to the Russian military in the war-torn east as checks begin on a disputed aid convoy from Moscow parked at the border.

Military spokesman Andriy Lysenko said two armoured vehicles from an elite Russian airborne division were seized along with documents of soldiers who had fled following a battle near the second-largest separatist stronghold of Luhansk.

Ukrainian soldiers stand by a tank near Luhansk. Credit:AFP

The Russian military ridiculed the allegations.

After a week of wrangling between the two former Soviet republics, Ukrainian border guards began to inspect a Russian truck convoy carrying aid earmarked for humanitarian relief.