KHABAROVSK, August 31 (RIA Novosti) – The Ukrainian Army reorganized their forces during the ceasefire in humanitarian corridor granted by eastern self-defense militia to the trapped Ukrainian troops, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Sunday.
“They [the Ukrainian military] used this pause, which was granted by eastern self-defense, to reorganize forces, bring more troops and attempt to break the entrapments by force and lead their troops out,” the president told Channel One Russia television station.
Such actions “create distrust and lead to extensive fatalities,” Putin added.
On Thursday, self-defense forces of southeastern Ukraine announced that they surrounded Kiev’s forces outside the small town of Ilovaisk, located 22 miles away from Donetsk.
Putin urged the militia to open a humanitarian corridor to allow Ukrainian servicemen leave the area of military action and “reunite with their families.”
On Saturday, the commander of militia forces Semen Semenchenko announced the opening of a safety corridor, through which Ukrainian servicemen can leave the encirclement outside the town of Ilovaisk. The Ukrainian troops were told to disarm and leave through the humanitarian corridor without their military hardware.
Kiev authorities never gave a definite answer to the initiative but ordered their troops to break out. The first group of Ukrainian servicemen left the encirclement later on Saturday, according to Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov.
