Defense Minister Shoigu: American PMCs are preparing a provocation with chemical weapons in Donbass
Source: RT by RIA Novosti
MOSCOW, December 21 – RIA Novosti. US private military companies located in the Donetsk region, are preparing a provocation with chemicals in eastern Ukraine, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said.
“To carry out provocations, tanks with unidentified chemical components were delivered to the cities of Avdiivka and Krasny Liman,” he said at an expanded meeting of the Defense Ministry board with the participation of President Vladimir Putin. According to the department, about 120 representatives of American PMCs arrived in the region, who train Ukrainian special forces.
The conflict in eastern Ukraine has been going on for more than seven and a half years, during which time, according to the UN , more than 13 thousand people have become its victims.
De-escalation is discussed at a meeting of the contact group, based on the Minsk agreements, which imply a ceasefire and the withdrawal of heavy weapons from the line of contact. At the same time, Ukraine has now concentrated half of the army’s personnel in the Donbass and is shelling the militias, which including the use of prohibited equipment.
Tensions in the region are fueled by the United States and other NATO countries, which supply Kiev with weapons and military instructors, and also increased the number of exercises in the Black Sea. Moscow believes that the West is trying to create a group of troops near the Russian borders.