The Kremlin says it does not know how 700 tanks appeared in the Donbas
Russia does not supply tanks to the so-called DPR (Donetsk People's Republic) and LPR (Luhansk People's Republic), though the number of tanks there has reached 700 units, as stated by the Press Secretary for the President of Russia, Dmitry Peskov, UNIAN reported.
"To answer the question of how the tanks have gotten there, it seems you will have the same result whether you ask Moscow or Kyiv where the tanks are from. Here I have no information,” said Peskov. “I can tell you that, of course, they do not come from Russia."
When asked where the tanks could have appeared from, if the occupied part of the Donbass shares borders with only Russia and Ukraine, Peskov replied: "This is still Ukraine; these are areas not under the control of Kyiv, but this is Ukraine, despite the fact that Kyiv rejects these regions.”
According to Peskov’s own words, one must ask the Ukrainian authorities why this situation is happening, and why the implementation of the Minsk agreements has stalled.
Commenting on the statements of Sergei Zheleznyak, a member of the Russian State Duma, about the possible arrival of "new volunteers" from Russia in the Donbas, Peskov responded that, "according to official channels, no volunteers will be sent out there."
"At the same time, of course, there are Russian citizens, who voluntarily set out to protect people against the aggressive actions of the ZSU (Armed Forces of Ukraine)," he said.
Earlier, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko asserted that the Donbas separatists have more than 700 tanks and 1250 artillery pieces, as well as more than 1,000 armored vehicles and 300 rocket launchers.
Yevhen Marchuk, the Ukrainian Representative in the Minsk negotiations, said that the number of Russian tanks in the Donbass region is now higher than the number in Germany and the UK combined.