A conflict that has raged for decades reached a flashpoint this week when rebels backed by Rwanda marched on a key Congolese city in a bid to occupy territory and exploit minerals.

Vladimir Putin grabbed Donbas, an eastern region of Ukraine, and pretended he had not. As a figleaf he used local separatist forces, which Russia armed, supplied and directed. These forces, he claimed,

The rebels, which Rwanda denies supporting, have long been funded at least in part by the illicit mineral trade.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday spoke separately with the presidents of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda about the escalating conflict in eastern Congo, U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said.

Rwandan diplomats say their army is not deployed in the DRC, but if it was it would be to protect the Congolese Tutsi community and their own borders against the rebel Forces Démocratiques de Libération du Rwanda. The FDLR includes combatants who participated in the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.

Residents of Goma reported gunfire and shelling after rebels overran Congolese troops. U.N. officials estimated that more than one million displaced people were now inside the city.

Congo has severed diplomatic ties with Rwanda as fighting between Rwanda-backed rebels and government forces rages around the key eastern city of Goma.

Congo’s security forces are fighting against Rwanda-backed rebels who advanced into a key eastern city in a major escalation of a decadeslong conflict.

Protesters in Dr Congo capital Kinshasa set several embassies ablaze and looted them. They claimed international inaction as Rwanda-backed M23 rebels stormed the city of Goma on Sunday and clashed with Congolese soldiers.

Fighting has escalated sharply in recent weeks in eastern Congo, where rebels have seized key towns and are closing in on the city of Goma, the government’s last stronghold in the North Kivu province,

By Yassin Kombi and Sonia Rolley GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo (Reuters) -Rebels seized the airport of east Congo's largest city Goma on Tuesday, potentially cutting off the main route for aid to reach hundreds of thousands of displaced people,