Donetsk, Feb 3 - DAN. The situation in Donbass has reached a critical mark in the past week due to Ukraine’s aggressive actions, Donetsk People’s Republic representative at the Minsk talks, DPR Foreign Minister Natalia Nikonorova said on Thursday.
“The situation has strained to the limit in the past week through Kiev’s fault,” Nikonorova said. “The disregard of this setup by guarantor countries that have influence on Ukraine, especially by France and Germany is considered absolutely inadmissible. If representatives of these states continue to close their eyes to Ukraine’s provocative behavior and do not put proper pressure on Ukrainian authorities in order to prevent such actions, it can be interpreted as tacit assistance to Kiev.”
There’s been practically no single day without provocations since January 28, she added. The DPR was hit by a spate of bomb scares targeting administrative buildings, trade and cultural facilities and education centers, a DPR militiaman was killed in a Ukrainian drone attack in the south of the Republic and an civilian in Alexandrovka was wounded in sniper fire. On top of that, DPR State Security Ministry officers prevented an act of sabotage in the Dokuchayevsk area as they founded a cache of weapons and explosives belonging to Ukrainian commandos.
In the past few months, Kiev and the West have been making statements alleging the threat of Russian invasion. This pretext was used to mass considerable forces next to the contact line in Donbass. Earlier, the DPR reported the massing of some 120,000 Ukrainian servicemen in the region. The Ukrainian group was reinforced with radicals, multiple launch rocket systems and NATO weapons. Ukrainian chemical warfare troops drills were reported as well. *jk