We have evidence of Russian military presence in Donbas – U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine
Russian generals are taking part in the conflict in Donbas, Russia is using modern electronic guiding systems for ground-to-air missiles, and Russia is the only country that can deescalate the conflict in eastern Ukraine, U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt has said.
We consider Russia the main responsible party for violence of an unconscionable scope that took place in Donbas for the whole 2014, Pyatt said in an interview with Inter TV channel on Sunday.
He said that the U.S. had recently published additional data showing that regular units of the Russian army had participated in seizing Debaltseve and in military actions which took place after the Minsk II Agreements had come into effect.
Russia has supplied hundreds and hundreds of items of heavy armaments since December, 'the moment of silence,' including weapons used in the attack on Debaltseve. We think that Russian generals took part in the conflict in Donbas and that Russian officers oversee tactical military operations in Donbas, the Ambassador said.
According to him, Russia is also using modern electronic guiding systems for ground-to-air missiles.
Russia created the conflict, Russia was the one that facilitated its escalation in December-January, Russia must be the one to decide to deescalate it, Pyatt said.
The Ambassador said that there was plenty of evidence to support his statements.
We have satellite data, we have our own sources of evidence of Russian military presence in Donbas, as well as many materials that are currently coming into light thanks to western journalists, he said.
When commenting on the possibility of imposing further sanctions against Russia due to this evidence, the ambassador said that the U.S. had a lot of tools at its disposal, however he did not specify what those were.
We all want Ukraine to be able to protect its sovereign territory. The U.S. Congress approved allocating $120 million to pay for the training of Ukrainian soldiers and buying supplies. The only question still being discussed is whether it should include lethal defensive weapons, Pyatt said.
