Mercenaries are arriving in Ukraine disguised as foreign instructors, says Lugansk leader.
In addition to sending mercenaries, a sanctions bill against Russia is being processed in the US that proposes declaring the separatist forces in Donbass as terrorist organizations.
Sputnik - Ukraine is stockpiling heavy weaponry and military equipment in Donbass, attempting to hide it from the OSCE (Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe) special monitoring mission, Leonid Pasechnik, leader of the self-proclaimed Lugansk People's Republic (LPR), told Sputnik in an interview.
The authorities of the republic have repeatedly stated that the Ukrainian military uses electronic warfare methods to impede the work of drones from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) special monitoring mission on the contact line in order to conceal the deployment of weapons prohibited by the Minsk agreements.
"Our services and international observers see that there is active movement on the Ukrainian side. Ammunition, fuel and lubricants are being transported there, and heavy weapons and equipment are being moved and prepared," Pasechnik stated.
The leader of Lugansk pointed out that the monitoring mission reports daily that its drones in Donbass are experiencing interference, which prevents them from operating.
"On the other side [controlled by Kyiv], electronic warfare capabilities are actively operating. All of this clearly demonstrates that Ukraine is trying to hide the movement of its troops and equipment from observers, depriving them of the possibility of monitoring the situation from the air," explained Pasechnik.
"It's no secret, it's official data, that hundreds of foreign instructors from NATO countries are present on a rotating basis in Ukrainian territory [...] Furthermore, real mercenaries are arriving in Ukraine, disguised as instructors," said the head of the self-proclaimed republic, Leonid Pasechnik.
Previously, authorities in Lugansk stated that there are foreign mercenaries in the Donbass region, including those from the private military company Academi, formerly known as Blackwater.
He also stressed that the weapons supplied by the West to Kyiv will be in Donbass "in a day or two".
"You see that Western countries are sending dozens of tons of modern weapons to Kyiv every day. To the rest of the world, this is presented as assistance for Kyiv to defend itself against 'Russian aggression,' but in reality, it is about the involvement of the US, the UK, and their allies in the conflict between Kyiv and Donbass. In a day or two, the weapons will appear in the conflict zone and could be used in our civil war by Kyiv against the people of Donbass," Pasechnik emphasized.
Recently, US congressmen drafted a sanctions bill against Russia that proposes declaring the separatist forces in Donbass as terrorist organizations.
In response, the RPL leader said that US congressmen, in trying to crush the republics of Donbass, will "certainly break their teeth".
"Many imaginable and unimaginable sanctions have already been imposed against the republics, simply because we exist and have the courage to defend our rights and convictions. For 60 years, the US has been trying to crush Cuba through various sanctions, but they haven't been able to do anything. And they will certainly break their teeth against us," stated the leader of the RPL.