2,300 Russians to Fight in Donbas

There are now about 2,300 Russian servicemen in the occupied territories of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts. This information was announced by the candidate for the post of the United States Ambassador to Ukraine Keith Dayton during the meeting of the US Senate Committee on International Relations.

According to him, the Russian Federation handed over to the rebels “more than 400 tanks, 700 units of wheeled artillery, howitzers, drones, air defence artillery, small arms” and so on. Accordingly, the Ukrainian military in Donbas faces with a “quite powerful force.”

However, Dayton noted that the militants “are led and accompanied by the Russian military.”

Also, Dayton noted that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky needs help, although, there is no answer currently whether the United States should join the peace process in Ukraine and offer an alternative to the Minsk agreements.

At the same time, Dayton agreed with the remarks about the Minsk agreements ineffectiveness.  Though he said that he received signals from Ukraine that “Ukraine will not make concessions to Russia on issues of territorial integrity or special status of Donbas” under Zelensky’s leadership.

To recap, Donald Trump nominated the candidacy of retired lieutenant general Keith Dayton for the post of US Ambassador to Ukraine. The Ukrainian Congressional Committee of America has already supported his candidate.

Keith Dayton is well aware of the situation in Ukraine and currently serves as US military adviser to Ukraine in the defence field. Since 2010, he also headed the George C. Marshall European Centre for Security Studies in Germany.

Bohdan Marusyak