Officer of the 53rd separate mechanized brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Anatoliy Shtefan has said Russia holds the so-called republics, "Luhansk and Donetsk People's Republics" ("LPR/DPR"), at a distance and uses them as a testing ground for its new ammunition, equipment and weapons.
"There are tonnes of proof of this. The last one is testing of a new multiple rocket launcher, a rocket we do not have in service," he said in an interview to the Ukrainian online news outlet Obozrevatel.
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According to Shtefan, according to recent reports, Russians have brought a lot of new and heavy military equipment to the contact line.
"As we are informed, this is for conducting training. And it does not seem like an offensive, but we still need to be ready, since under the guise of these drills the enemy may occupy positions that are advantageous for a possible offensive," the officer said.
Shtefan emphasizes Russia may take inadequate decisions amid hybrid warfare, but the Armed Forces of Ukraine are ready to retaliate.
"The more they bring military equipment here, the more we burn it," he said.
