Russia has “well over 1,000 troops” operating inside Ukraine, Nato warned yesterday, as Moscow faced a backlash over growing evidence of its direct military involvement in the uprising in the east of the country.
Dutch Brigadier General Nico Tak, commander of Nato’s crisis operations centre, said the Russian military was transferring air defence systems, artillery, tanks and armoured personnel carriers to separatists in eastern Ukraine. Nato published satellite images that appeared to corroborate this.
“There’s a severe escalation,” he said. “The satellite imagery presents additional evidence Russian combat soldiers equipped with heavy weapons are operating inside Ukraine.” He warned that 20,000 Russian troops amassed at the border with Ukraine were “far more capable than what we saw in March . . . an offensive army”.