Leader of "DNR" militants calls on Russia to transfer 30 thousand servicemen to CADLO
Commander of the Vostok militant battalion Alexander Khodakovsky has called on Russia to send 30 thousand soldiers to CADLO. The militant said this in an interview with Reuters, - the Russian Dozhd TV channel reports.
According to the leader of the militants, out of 30 thousand "DNR" own fighters, only 10 thousand are ready for combat operations. Khodakovsky stated that the militants needed to have 40 thousand fighters "with automatic rifles on the frontline".
Khodakovsky acknowledged that the militants would be defeated in the event of a major offensive by Ukrainian government forces, and called on Russia to send Grad and Uragan multiple launch rocket systems to the Donbas
Khodakovsky also assured that the majority of separatists do not want a military solution to the conflict in eastern Ukraine.
The Kremlin has not yet commented on Khodakovsky's statement.
The report recalls that at the end of January, secretary of the General Council of United Russia Andrey Turchak announced the need to supply the so-called "DNR" and "LNR" with Russian weapons "to increase the defense capability" of the "republics" and "to deter the military aggression clearly being prepared by Kyiv". After that, United Russia made an appeal to Russian President Putin, in which it proposed to start deliveries of military aid to CADLO. Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov called the idea "something new", having stated that Putin was not considering supplying weapons to the "DNR" and "LNR".