The Kremlin has denied having any links to hundreds of tanks allegedly spotted in eastern Ukraine.
Presidential spokesperson Dmitry Peskov repeated claims that Moscow was not involved in arming separatists, despite allegations that 700 tanks had been seen in the Donbas region.
“I imagine that asking either Moscow or Kiev where these tanks have come from will get you the same response,” he said. “I can’t give you an absolute answer [on where the tanks came from], but I can tell you that they haven’t come from Russia.”
Peskov also denied that Russia was sending fighters into the region. “Volunteers are not moving through official channels,” he said. “We know that there are Russian citizens there, but they are volunteers who went to the area to protect local people from aggressive Ukrainian forces.”
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko told U.S. news network CNN in September 2016 that Russia had sent 700 tanks to aid separatist fighters in the Donbass region. He also claimed that Moscow had sent more than 1,250 artillery systems, 1,000 armed personnel carriers, and 300 multi-rocket launch systems.
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