Russian Tanks in Donbass? A ‘Bunch of Lies’ – Analyst

A leading Russian military expert dismissed as “nonsense” Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko’s recent claim about Russia allegedly sending hundreds of tanks and artillery pieces to Donbass.

“Mr. Poroshenko is lying because it would take about 60,000 men to handle all that hardware, and the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics simply do not have so many trained people to do that,” Konstantin Sivkov, President of the Academy of Geopolitical Studies, a Moscow-based think tank, told RIA Novosti on Monday.

Sivkov added that at the pro-independence fighters had around 300 tanks and many armored vehicles and artillery pieces they had captured from the Kiev forces in Donbass.

The Ukrainian president had earlier accused Russia of having sent a total of 500 tanks, 400 artillery systems and up to 950 military armored vehicles to independence supporters in Donbass, although he did not specify the time period for these deliveries.

Poroshenko was speaking at a military parade in Kiev to celebrate 24 years since independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.

The Russian Defense Ministry has repeatedly denied sending arms and ammunition to Donbass and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has flatly rejected Kiev’s claims that Russian troops are allegedly fighting alongside pro-independence forces there.