Putin denies discussion of 'peace plan', saying Ukraine is 'not our business'; Russians demand to know – are we at war?

Ukraine has accused Russia of new military incursions into its territory, a day after hours of talks between the two countries' presidents appeared to yield little in the way of concrete results.

Vladimir Putin and Petro Poroshenko had met in Minsk on Tuesday, speaking privately for two hours after several hours of broader round-table talks including EU representatives and the presidents of Belarus and Kazakhstan. But the two leaders had very different readings of what was agreed.

Ukrainian president Poroshenko claimed that all the heads of state present at the talks, including Putin, had signed up to supporting his "peace plan", and also said that there was agreement that Ukrainian and Russian border guard services would meet soon to discuss the situation on the border.

Putin, however, said the discussions were "first and foremost [about] economic cooperation" and claimed that all talks about resolving the conflict should be between Kiev and representatives of the eastern regions.

"We did not discuss this matter substantively," said Putin. "Frankly speaking, we cannot discuss any conditions for a ceasefire or possible agreements between Kiev, Donetsk and Luhansk. This is not our business; it is a domestic matter of Ukraine itself."

Putin's words ignore the fact that the Ukraine has lost control of a section of the border and believes Russian arms and fighters are crossing freely to aid the rebels. There are also increasing fears that regular Russian army units are active in the east.

These have been bolstered with claims of secret funerals for Russian servicemen apparently killed in action in Ukraine, as well as the most concrete evidence yet: the capture of nine serving Russian soldiers on Ukrainian soil. For the first time, sources in Russia's defence ministry admitted that there were soldiers in Ukraine, but said they had been part of a border patrol that had crossed into Ukrainian territory "by accident".

Putin admitted that Russian soldiers had been caught in Ukraine, but insisted they had crossed the border accidentally, and compared the incident to Ukrainian soldiers who have crossed the border to escape encirclement by rebel forces.

"After all, Ukrainian service members entered our territory with armoured equipment, and we didn't have any problems. I hope that in this case, there also will not be any problems with the Ukrainian side," said Putin.

Ukraine paraded some of the soldiers at a press conference in Kiev on WednesdayThe soldiers, dressed in military fatigues, said they had realised since their capture that Russian media was lying about the situation in Ukraine. However, given the circumstances, it was not possible to tell whether the men were speaking freely or under duress.

Ukrainian military spokesman Andriy Lysenko claimed on Wednesday that more Russian soldiers had crossed into Ukraine in five armoured personnel carriers.

"Five armoured infantry carriers and one Kamaz truck entered Amvrosiyivka with men in them," Lysenko told journalists in Kiev.

"If this tactical group got lost and accidentally came into Ukraine like the paratroops of the 98th paratroop division then it remains for us to remind them that they can return to Russia, taking an easterly direction," said Lysenko.

Disquiet in Russia over the country's ambiguous role is beginning to grow, as more circumstantial evidence of military activity emerges. An editorial in the respected Russian daily Vedomosti on Wednesday said Russian officials had a responsibility to explain whether or not the country was at war.

"Is Russia fighting in Ukraine, and if it is, on what basis? If it's not, then who has been buried in these fresh graves, and who is being questioned by Ukrainian security services?"