Exclusive-Senior separatist urges Russia to send 30,000 troops to east Ukraine
DONETSK, Ukraine (Reuters) - An influential separatist commander in eastern Ukraine has urged Russia to send 30,000 soldiers to reinforce rebel forces fighting in the breakaway Donetsk region and to operate new weapons systems he hopes Russia will supply.
The Kremlin did not immediately respond when asked to comment on the request by Alexander Khodakovsky, a former political leader in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic who now oversees a military unit.
The deployment of 30,000 Russian soldiers would further increase tensions between the West and Moscow over a Russian troop build-up near Ukraine.
Khodakovsky said he thought separatist forces would be defeated if they faced a major offensive by Ukrainian government forces in a conflict that began in 2014, and urged Russia to send Grad and Uragan multiple rocket launcher systems.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/exclusive-senior-separatist-urges-russia-164907977.html
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