REUTERS
Moscow considers unfounded statements by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko about the presence of 11,000 Russian soldiers on the territory of Ukraine, spokesperson for the Russian president Dmitriy Peskov told journalists on Thursday, according to Russian news agency RIA Novosti.
"No, I can’t confirm this, because such allegations, without any specifics, without any evidence, can’t lead to anything in a positive way," Peskov said.
As UNIAN reported earlier, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said that about 11,000 Russian soldiers were fighting in the Donbas conflict zone.
Poroshenko also said that the establishment of peace in the Donbas is possible only after the reintegration of the occupied territories.
"I see no military solution to the conflict in the east of Ukraine," he said.
Russia has several times denied sending its troops into Ukraine, even though some of them have even been captured by Ukrainian forces. On one occasion the Kremlin said its troops “had got lost” and entered Ukraine by accident.
However, there is now a large body of evidence indicating that Moscow regularly sends its troops into Ukraine to aid the militants fighting Ukrainian forces there.
According to a report released on Tuesday by associates of Boris Nemtsov, the Russian opposition figure murdered next to the Kremlin in late February, at least 220 Russian soldiers were killed in two battles in Ukraine - in August 2014 near Ilovasik, and in February this year at Debaltseve.
In addition, Western and Russian media have interviewed Russian soldiers who have fought in Ukraine. According to several accounts, Russian regular troops do most of the serious fighting, with local militants mainly being used to hold captured ground after an advance.