DPR Foreign Minister Nikonorova: Kiev used ammunition from NATO in the shelling of a substation The Armed Forces of Ukraine used NATO-supplied ammunition for shelling in the Donbass, said the Foreign Minister of the self-proclaimed republic. She once again pointed to Kiev's pulling of Western military equipment to the line of contact alt=”The DPR announced the use of weapons received from the West by Kiev” />
Kiev fired at the substation in Yelenovka with NATO-supplied ammunition, said Natalia Nikonorova, head of the DPR Foreign Ministry, the self-proclaimed republic's envoy to the contact group to resolve the conflict in Donbass in an interview with RIA Novosti.
“In Yelenovka, an electrical substation was fired upon with 60mm caliber ammunition — this is the NATO standard,— she declared. Nikonorova added that the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) had never used such a caliber before.
The fact that Ukraine is putting into service 60-mm mortars, back in 2016 in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine; Oleksandr Turchynov, who held the post of Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) of the country at that time, reported. At the weapons exhibition at the Kiev Polytechnic Institute in the same year, mortars of this caliber “Tuning fork” produced in Ukraine were presented. Kiev plant “Mayak” prepared the launch of their mass production. In August 2020, the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine purchased locally produced 60mm mortars.
According to the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the republic, the supply of Western weapons to Kiev leads to new shelling of Donbass. “So far we see that these weapons are being pulled to the line of contact. Ukraine is pulling more and more of the weapons that it receives from Western countries to the line of contact with the Donbass,— the minister said.
Earlier, representatives of the DPR reported that Ukraine had deployed multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS) and tank formations to the territory of Donbass to form strike groups. The People's Militia of the self-proclaimed republic announced plans for the Armed Forces of Ukraine to send the 14th separate mechanized brigade to Donbass in the near future.
Eduard Basurin, deputy head of the People's Militia Department of the DPR, spoke about the preparation by the Ukrainian security forces of an armed offensive in the joint forces operation zone.
The LPR also announced the transfer of troops and military equipment to the line of contact in the Donbass.
The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, in turn, pointed to the deployment in the LPR and DPR of “Russian military equipment <…> in violation of the Minsk Treaty”: tanks, armored combat vehicles, self-propelled and artillery installations.
On January 28, Basurin claimed that the Armed Forces of Ukraine were developing “under the guidance of American advisers” a plan for an offensive operation in the Donbass.
The press secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov also spoke about the high threat of an armed offensive by Ukraine in the Donbass. According to him, the Ukrainian authorities are concentrating “a huge amount of forces and means” on the border with the self-proclaimed republics. Peskov noted that the supply of Western weapons to Ukraine “once again inspires hotheads in Kiev to start this operation.” After that, the head of the United Russia faction Vladimir Vasiliev and First Deputy Chairman of the Federation Council Andrey Turchak suggested that the Russian authorities supply the self-proclaimed republics of Donbass with weapons to increase their defense capability.
The Ukrainian authorities blame the growing tension on Moscow, which, according to them, provokes the emergence of “disinformation , manipulations and fakes” that lead to “destabilization of the internal situation in Ukraine”.
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