ATHENS, August 27 (RIA Novosti) – Volunteers from Greece are among the representatives of various nationalities in the ranks of the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) indepedence forces, the Athens Courier newspaper reported.
According to the newspaper, there is a large community of Greeks in the east of Ukraine, who have suffered as much as other residents of the region and many of them fled for Russia’s Rostov and Kuban regions.
“Pontic Greeks, who live in Greece, should be concerned with the fate of the Greeks living in Mariupol, which is trapped under the shelling [and other firing] of the Kiev-Lviv punishers,” the paper reported.
It is also noted in the paper that apart from Greeks, two battalions of Serbs and even 25 US citizens are fighting for “traditional human values” alongside militia in southeast Ukraine.
According to earlier reports, within the Vostok Battalion, DPR’s most prominent defense force, are volunteers from Spain, Italy, France, Spain, Canada, Russia and Poland.
The former DPR Prime Minister Alexander Borodai stated on his Facebook webpage that volunteers are especially needed to help residents and for the restoration of infrastructure in the region.
Since mid-April the Ukrainian government has been conducting a military operation in the east of Ukraine to suppress independence supporters who refused to acknowledge the new government that came to power after a coup that took place in Ukraine on February 22.
Thousands of civilians have died as a result of the confrontation. Moscow has repeatedly condemned the operation and urged for a ceasefire to prevent further casualties, sending a humanitarian convoy to war-torn eastern Ukraine, delivering about 2,000 tons of humanitarian aid.
