Russia has amassed as many as 38,000 soldiers on its borders with Ukraine and continues to supply arms and personnel to rebel forces in the eastern part of the country, Ukraine’s National Security Council chief said.
Russia has moved about 16,000 troops to Ukraine’s eastern frontier and has another 22,000 in Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula that President Vladimir Putin annexed in March, Andriy Parubiy told reporters in the capital Kiev today.
“The military invasion is continuing,” Parubiy said. “We are dealing with Russian occupiers and weapons and militants are being brought in.”
Rebels shot down a transport plane in mainly Russian-speaking eastern Ukraine on June 14, killing 49 servicemen in the deadliest attack since separatists seized government buildings on April 6. The U.S. and the European Union have warned Putin that Russia faces further sanctions if concrete steps aren’t taken to de-escalate the conflict, which has claimed hundreds of lives.
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The downing of the IL-76 aircraft as it approached the airport in Luhansk came after the U.S. accused Russia of sending heavy weapons, including rocket launchers and tanks, to rebels across the border. Russia has protested the civilian toll or Ukraine’s offensive in the east.
The number of militants in Luhansk and the neighboring Donetsk region is about 15,000 to 20,000, half of whom are from Russia, including special forces, Parubiy said today. Igor Konashenkov, a spokesman for the Defense Ministry in Moscow, declined to comment on Parubiy’s assertions.
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