Ukrainian state arms company Ukroboronexport organized a live fire exercise at a testing ground in Chernihiv region, where the president also spoke to arms designers and military officials, Ukraine Today reports.
Poroshenko said that the Russian-backed militants have been continuously violating the Minsk ceasefire agreements signed in February, and have failed to withdraw heavy weaponry from the contact line, even parading them during Victory Day celebrations instead.
Ukrainian officials have repeatedly accused Russia of supporting the militants by providing weapons, supplies and combatants to Ukraine, while Russia has been denying involvement.
However, a large and growing amount of evidence shows that Russia is not only supporting the militants, but that Moscow probably had a hand in starting the current armed conflict in eastern Ukraine in the first place.
According to Russian citizen Igor Girikin, the one-time “defense minister” of the Donetsk People’s Republic militant organization, he and his special operations team were responsible for triggering the armed conflict in the east of Ukraine by taking control of police, government and security service buildings in eastern Ukraine last April.
Over 7,000 civilians, militants and Ukrainian servicemen have been killed during the conflict in Ukraine’s east.
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