jueves, 28 de mayo de 2015

Exclusive: Russia masses heavy firepower on border with Ukraine - witness | Reuters

Exclusive: Russia masses heavy firepower on border with Ukraine - witness | Reuters



 Exclusive: Russia masses heavy firepower on border with Ukraine - witness

Russia's army is massing troops and hundreds of pieces of weaponry including mobile rocket launchers, tanks and artillery at a makeshift base near the border with Ukraine, a Reuters reporter saw this week.

Many of the vehicles have number plates and identifying marks removed while many of the servicemen had taken insignia off their fatigues. As such, they match the appearance of some of the forces spotted in eastern Ukraine, which Kiev and its Western allies allege are covert Russian detachments.

The scene at the base on the Kuzminsky firing range, around 50 km (30 miles) from the border, offers some of the clearest evidence to date of what appeared to be a concerted Russian military build-up in the area.

Earlier this month, NATO military commander General Philip Breedlove said he believed the separatists were taking advantage of a ceasefire that came into force in February to re-arm and prepare for a new offensive. However, he gave no specifics.




 

Tanks are seen on a freight train shortly
after its arrival at a railway station in the Russian southern town of
Matveev Kurgan, near the Russian-Ukrainian border in Rostov region,
Russia, May 26, 2015. Picture taken with a mobile phone.



Reuters/Maria Tsvetkova