Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the concentration by Ukraine of up to 125,000 troops in the Donbass. He made the corresponding statement during a press conference following talks with French President Emmanuel Macron, Interfax reports.
“Mr. President said this: Russia is conducting exercises, has concentrated a large group (on the border with Ukraine -). But hasn't Ukraine concentrated? The same 100,000 or 125,000 people are concentrated there in Donbas,” the Russian leader said.
The head of France, in turn, said that "125,000 Russian troops are concentrated on the borders of Ukraine."
“President (Ukraine Vladimir -) Zelensky is today the president of the country, on the borders of which there are 125 thousand Russian military. So, yes, he is nervous,” Macron said.
He also expressed the opinion that the coming days will be decisive in the matter of de-escalation of the situation around Ukraine.
“We need to agree on specific measures in order to stabilize the situation and lead to de-escalation. And we discussed this together, in the coming days and weeks this should be confirmed, ”Macron said.
The meeting of the leaders of France and the Russian Federation was held on February 7 in the Kremlin.
Earlier, the self-proclaimed DPR and LPR stated that Ukraine was preparing an informational provocation to start large-scale hostilities in the Donbass. According to LPR intelligence, the operation called CRUSHING SWORD of the Ukrainian special services will be carried out jointly with Western colleagues. Its goal will be to mislead the world community and accuse the republics of Donbass and Russia of aggression against Ukraine.
The head of the people's militia of the self-proclaimed Lugansk People's Republic, Colonel Yan Leshchenko, explained that Kiev wants to sow panic among the population and the defenders of Donbass. Eduard Basurin, deputy head of the People's Militia Department of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, compared the actions of the Ukrainian authorities with how the Second World War began.
On the territory of Donbass, from July 27, 2020, additional measures to control the truce have been in force, agreed by the participants of the Contact Group to resolve the situation in eastern Ukraine. As a result, a ban was introduced on offensive and reconnaissance and sabotage actions, the use of aircraft and other actions.
The armed conflict in the south-east of Ukraine began in 2014, when the inhabitants of Donbass did not recognize the new government after the coup. In 2015, the leaders of the Normandy Four agreed on measures to implement the Minsk agreements of September 19, 2014. Ukraine adopted a law on the special status of Donbass in 2014, but it has not yet entered into force.
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