KIEV, Aug. 11 – Ukraine on Monday ruled out immediate military assistance to Georgia, its ally, which has been battling invading Russian troops on its territory, instead pledging “political” and “humanitarian” support.

Russia on Monday continued massive air raids striking targets on the Georgian territory, while tanks and troops have been reportedly approaching outskirts of Tbilisi, the Georgian capital.

“Concerning the military assistance, this issue is not on agenda at the moment,” Kostiantyn Yeliseyev, deputy foreign minister and President Viktor Yushchenko’s special envoy to the region, said at a press conference.

“At the current stage we consider the possibility of providing assistance and support in two directions: political and humanitarian,” Yeliseyev said.

The comment shows the extent of Ukraine’s possible involvement in the escalating conflict as Russia, which has been using what world leaders called “disproportional” military power, strikes the Georgian troops.

Ukraine until recently was one of the key suppliers of weapons to Georgia, and Yeliseyev’s comment suggests that Kiev will refrain from sending any more weapons to Tbilisi in the near future as the crisis escalates.

Russian battleships were reported to take positions off the Georgian cost with some sources in the Russian command had suggested their task was to arrange blockade to prevent Georgia from getting more weapons.

Russian media, citing a source at the Russian army command, reported Sunday that one of Russian strategic bombers, Tu-22, the most capable weaponry in Russia’s air force, was probably shot down over Georgia by a Ukrainian long-range anti-aircraft missile S-200.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry later accused Kiev of encouraging the conflict by supplying weapons to Tbilisi.

But Ukraine denounced the accusation, saying the country strictly adheres to United Nations resolution and international norms and regulations concerning arms exports.

“Military-technical cooperation that has been carried out with Georgia is legitimate and corresponds to our friendly relations and norms of international law,” Yeliseyev said.

“If to stick by this [Moscow’s] logic, the world’s all leading exporters of weapons should be accused in all armed conflicts,” Yeliseyev said. “I wouldn’t want to speculate on this.”

Russia is one of the world’s biggest exporters of weapons.

Meanwhile, Russian forces seized several towns and a military base deep in western Georgia on Monday, opening a second front in the fighting.

Georgia's President Mikhail Saakashvili said his country had been effectively cut in half with the capture of the main east-west highway near Gori.

Fighting also raged Monday around Tskhinvali, the capital of the separatist province of South Ossetia, while Russian warplanes launched new air raids across Georgia.

The reported capture of the key Georgian city of Gori and the towns of Senaki, Zugdidi and Kurga came despite a top Russian general's claim earlier Monday that Russia had no plans to enter Georgian territory. By taking Gori, which sits on Georgia's only east-west highway, Russia can cut off eastern Georgia from the country's western Black Sea coast.

"[Russian forces] came to the central route and cut off connections between western and eastern Georgia," Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili told a national security meeting, AP reported.

The news agency Interfax, however, cited a Russian Defense Ministry official as denying Gori was captured. (tl/ez)