Ukraine Sees Further Amassing of Weapons by Russia-Backed Forces

(Bloomberg) -- Separatists backed by Russia are amassing weapons in areas of eastern Ukraine in violation of the 2015 Minsk peace accord, according to Ukraine’s military authority. 

In the last 24 hours, Russian-armed militants have deployed 275 military vehicles in the parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions that have been under their control since 2014, Ukraine’s military press-office said. Those include tanks, self-propelled guns and howitzers.

By arming the separatists, Russia is behind the “systematic creation of grounds for further escalation at the contact line,” Ukraine’s military said in a statement on Facebook. The contact line runs between Ukraine and separatist-held areas. 

Russia has repeatedly said that it doesn’t intend to invade Ukraine, as tensions between the two nations have escalated in recent weeks. Russia says it wants NATO to bar Ukraine and other ex-Soviet states from membership and to roll back its forces to positions they held in 1997. 

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