Angela Merkel refrained from indicting Russia and pro-independence troops in Donbass for escalating hostilities in the east of Ukraine when she met with Petro Poroshenko.
It looks like Germany's officials are no longer denying that the Ukrainian side is responsible for prolonging the conflict with independence fighters in the country's south-east, according to Deutsche Wirtschafts Nachrichten (DWN).
However, unlike his Western counterparts, the Ukrainian leader once again claimed that Russia had deployed over 50,000 troops along its border with Ukraine and sent another 40,000 to Donbass.
“These arguments are not backed with any proof. And appalling numbers [of Russian troops involved in Ukraine’s civil war] look unlikely at best. If Russia lined up its military forces along Ukraine’s border, US satellites would be able to see them from space and it would be announced,” the article reads.
Meanwhile, Poroshenko keeps spending European taxpayers' money on equipping the Ukrainian army with weapons and carries on staging military parades, according to DWN. Meanwhile, the country’s economy is on the verge of collapse.
Ukrainian authorities as well as Western officials have repeatedly accused Russia of interfering in Ukraine’s domestic affairs. Moscow has responded by insisting that it is not involved in Ukraine's civil conflict.
The Russian Ministry of Defense has repeatedly restated that it doesn’t supply the DPR and LPR with military equipment and denies all allegations that it supports pro-independence troops, calling them unproven “twaddle.”
