Donetsk: Kiev deliberately escalates situation to distract Nationalists

Upsurge of tensions in Donbass may be connected with ongoing political instability in Ukraine. The country’s leadership is escalating the situation to distract Ukrainian nationalists who are ready to support protesters, Daniil Bezsonov (codename Goodwin), Head of DPR Armed Forces press office has told EADaily.

“We have witnessed many scandalous events in Ukraine recently. There are deliberately exploded arms depots and scandalous murders and assassination attempts on government and national security representatives, and of course, a new ‘Maidan’. I think all these events were not accidental. They reflect infighting in all power branches. Of course, the major threat to Poroshenko are leaders of the right-radical groups, most of whom participated in the so-called ATO and part of them are still on the frontline. In this light, I think Ukraine’s authorities intentionally escalate the conflict to distract nationalists with war,” Bezsonov said.

He thinks there may be another reason too i.e. rotation of Ukraine’s Armed Forces brigades. “Ukrainian units leaving to the rear waste surplus ammunition to avoid paperwork and earn bonuses to their salaries for ‘participation in military actions,’” Bezsonov elaborated.

Earlier, referring to data received of the Ukrainian troops to be rotated, Deputy Commander of the DPR Eduard Basurin said over 40% of troops are discontented at policy of President Petro Poroshenko and ready to support Mikheil Saakashvili. The National Guard of Ukraine patrols the roads from the so-called ATO to hold them from direct involvement in protests. Today, on November 1, Basurin said about a failed attempt of Ukraine’s Armed Forces to attack positions of DPR troops in area of the Donetsk Airport.