Ukrainian Defense Ministry: There are around 25,000 Russian soldiers in Donbas today
Ukrainian Defense Minister Andriy Zahorodniuk said that there are currently more than 25,000 Russian soldiers in the Donbas. He cited this figure on February 19 while talking to the press after a closed session of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on National Security, Defense and Intelligence.
“It’s changing information. We see that there are more than 25,000, for sure,” Zahorodniuk noted.
The minister also speculated that, after the failed attempt to break through to the Zolote region (Luhansk province), the illegal armed groups would have withdrawn to their previous positions.
“As far as we understand, they have withdrawn to the same positions where they were before,” said the defense minister.
He said that Ruslan Khomchak, Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, is currently in the Joint Forces Operation zone, and that he will be able to report on the situation around Zolote once he returns to Kyiv.