Briefly about the most important today's events in our digest of events
that have happened in Ukraine today
USA Ambassador: Russia's fighting in Donbas
Russia has sent the newest air defence systems to Eastern Ukraine and is directly involved in hostilities in Donbas, Ambassador of the United States to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt posted in Twitter.
The number of tanks, armoured vehicles, artillery and volley fire systems (MLRS) supplied by Russia is not sufficient to defeat the Armed Forces of Ukraine, he wrote.
Consequently, a larger number of Russian troops got directly involved in hostilities in the territory of Ukraine, the diplomat said.
PRD fighter: Russian service members fight for us when being "on leave"
The leadership of the self-proclaimed "People's Republic of Donetsk" has admitted that active Russian military personnel who are allegedly "on leave" are fighting on the side of separatists, so-called "PRD Premier Minister" Alexander Zakharchenko said during a live broadcast by the TV channel "Russia 24".
According to him, there have been between 3 to 4 thousand Russian servicemen among separatists up to this time.
"Many of them have already gone home. Even more of them are staying here. Unfortunately, there have been casualties among the military too,” Zakharchenko said.
11 people killed in Donetsk in the past 24 hours
There are an estimated 15 thousand Russian soldiers fighting in Donbas
About 15 thousand Russian soldiers have already been sent to fight in Donbas; the number of deaths remains unknown, "Dozhd" reports with a reference to Valentyna Melnikova, the head of the Committee of Soldiers Mothers of Russia.
She said that Russian conscripts and contract soldiers from various military units were forced to sign "contracts" on fighting in Lugansk.
According to her calculations, there are approximately 15 thousand Russian soldiers in Ukraine now.
In addition, Melnikova said that it was unknown how many Russian soldiers had been killed at that moment in the territory of Ukraine.
The Committee of Soldiers' Mothers of Russia reported on Wednesday 400 killed or wounded servicemen in Donbas.
Captured soldier told how Russia supplies terrorists with weapons
The 9th separate motorized brigade of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation based in Rostov region (Russia) hands over to terrorist organizations military equipment and ammo, in particular Grad systems, BMP-2, BTR-80, Private Petro Khokhlov captured by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) in Lugansk region asserted during an interrogation as reported by the National Security Council.
According to him, to hide the involvement of the Armed Force of Russia in supplying the terrorist organizations with heavy armaments, Russian soldiers erase the hull numbers, symbols and emblems on the vehicles before transferring them to terrorists.
National Security Council: Novoazovsk was occupied by two columns of Russian matériel
The Ukrainian army was forced to retreat from Novoazovsk under duress of two columns of Russian heavy equipment, National Security and Defence Council said on Thursday.
The Russian military took control of the city of Novoazovsk, as well as of several settlements in Starobeshevo and Novoazovsk districts.
Dzobak Volodymyr
РОЗДУМИ ПРО НАДВАЖЛИВЕ або ЧОМУ НАШІ ОЛІГАРХИ СТАЛИ МОГИЛЬЩИКАМИ НИНІШНЬОЇ УКРАЇНИ
