America has yet again accused the nation of Russia of deploying more air defense systems in the eastern parts of Ukraine in breach of a ceasefire deal.
The state department also stated that the nation was also involved in providing military training to the rebels and the separatist forces in the area and also building up its forces along the borders. The Kremlin remained unavailable for comments.
A truce agreement between the Ukrainian forces and the pro-Russian rebel armies in eastern Ukraine was brokered by the western nations in Minsk, Belarus in February. Ukraine has accused Russia of arming the troops and sending Russian army over the border – a claim that the capital city Moscow has denied persistently.
State Department spokeswoman Ms Marie Harf stated that the “increasingly complex nature” of training of pro-Russian forces in east Ukraine “leaves no doubt that Russia is involved. Russia is also building up its forces along its border with Ukraine,” she further said.
Earlier this month, about 300 US paratroopers and other troops arrived in western Ukraine in support to the Ukrainian national guard units. At the time, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov warned the move “could seriously destabilise” the situation in the country of Ukraine.
One of the important features of the Minsk agreement states that ”all foreign armed groups, weapons and mercenaries” should withdraw from Ukrainian territory at the earliest. The United Nations state that at the least 6,116 people have been killed since the intense fights began in the regions of Donetsk and Luhansk last April – days later Russia annexed and entered in the Crimean peninsula.
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