An influential separatist commander in eastern Ukraine has urged Russia to send 30,000 soldiers to reinforce rebel forces fighting in the breakaway Donetsk region and to operate new weapons systems he hopes Russia will supply.
The Kremlin did not immediately respond when asked to comment on the request by Alexander Khodakovsky, a former political leader in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic who now oversees a military unit.
But the Kremlin has not yet committed one way or the other on the idea of military aid and has played down the call to recognise the breakaway regions as it tries to negotiate security guarantees with the West in the standoff over Ukraine. "We need to have at least 40,000, but 40,000 with automatic rifles on the frontline," Khodakovsky told Reuters in an interview, making clear his request was for 30,000 soldiers in addition to the 10,000 already deemed capable of frontline duties.
Kyiv has denied allegations by Moscow that Ukraine could launch an attack to take back control of the two regions and has accused Russia of supporting the separatists with covert forces, something Moscow denies.
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