Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko sparked fresh Kremlin fury on Wednesday by warning that his crisis-torn country was fighting a “real war” against Russian aggressors that could escalate at any time.
The pro-Western leader said the weekend capture of two purported Russian special forces members proved that the separatist uprising in the industrial east of Ukraine was a guise for a Moscow-orchestrated campaign aimed at breaking up the ex-Soviet state.
“Can I be absolutely clear with you this is not a fight with Russian-backed separatists, this is a real war with Russia,” the 49-year-old Ukrainian leader told the BBC.
“The fact that we captured... Russian regular special forces soldiers (is) strong evidence of that.” Ukraine’s military yesterday showed off two wounded Russians who had been taken prisoner during a firefight in Lugansk - a blue-collar region that together with neighbouring Donetsk revolted against Kiev’s shift toward the West 13 months ago.
The men testified during a taped interrogation that they entered the <g data-gr-id="14">warzone</g> nearly two months ago as part of a 200-strong reconnaissance unit from the Russian army’s Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU).