Kiev (AFP) - Ukraine vowed on Monday to present to the public two Russian soldiers it claimed to have captured while fighting Moscow-backed forces in the separatist east. The politically-charged declaration came as a tenuous February truce was broken by more violence that claimed the lives of at least four Ukrainian servicemen. Russia firmly denies any involvement in the Ukrainian conflict and accuses the pro-Western leadership in Kiev of waging a war of attrition against its own people in the industrial east of the ex-Soviet state. But it concedes that some "volunteers" and off-duty soldiers may have crossed Russia's southwestern border to support separatist militias fighting in Ukraine's Lugansk and Donetsk rustbelt. "For us, it is very important to present to the entire world Russian soldiers who supposedly do not exist on our land," Ukrainian military spokesman Vladyslav Seleznyov told AFP. "These are fighters from the 3rd non-divisional brigade of the special forces. They are based in (the Volga River city of) Togliatti," he said. Another Ukrainian defence spokesman told reporters that the wounded soldiers had been treated in hospital and were being flown to Kiev for their public appearance on Tuesday. Kiev's claim was dismissed by Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov. Both the military and other Moscow authorities have repeatedly stressed that "there are no Russian soldiers in the Donbass," Peskov said, referring to eastern Ukraine. "But I otherwise cannot comment," Peskov told Moscow Echo radio. "In this case, this is something for the experts or our defence ministry to do -- to say how plausible this material is."
What difference would "presenting the soldiers" to the world make? Russia has already said there are no Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine. Regardless of what Ukraine does or says, Russia has an answer to that — they are Russian volunteers, we already told you that. I wonder if the Russians would be all that happy if they heard that there were NATO "volunteers" in Ukraine.
I agree that there is not much that Ukraine can do. Months have passed and the never ending war continues. Putin has made his point, he is still ruling the region and any country that dares to face him will pay the price.
There are quite a few ex-soldiers from NATO countries who are volunteering in Ukraine. I highly doubt that these Russian soldiers are "off duty volunteers" but yeah, it's not like Russia is going to admit anything so this is just another political thing that doesn't change the situation at all.
Come on, that's the real feeling, most people don't care what's happening there, but that is sad don't you think?
Putin out-maneuvered everyone long before they could guess what his moves would be. Ukraine capturing the Russian's comes a little too late. Does the world know there are regular Russian troops are in Ukraine? Sure. But as long as Russia denies direct involvement the West will provide no [military] aid to Ukraine.
Even if they did show off captured soldiers, so what? Could the Ukraine remotely stand up to a full Russian assault? Why make matrers worse by antagonizing an already volatile situation? I admit, I am not current on the whole Ukraine/Russia debacle, but I don't see Putin excercising much patience. He's certainly not going to be pestered by Ukraine's maneuvers.
Poroshenko isn't the smartest leader Ukraine as ever had. Yesterday or the day before he said that Ukraine was preparing for war with Russia. Well I don't expect that Russia intends to fight Ukraine. An unstable Ukraine won't be allowed to join the EU. That's what Putin wanted — keep Ukraine out of the EU. Would he spend more money than he needs to, to get what he wants? Not likely. Maybe Poroshenko hopes that he can draw Russia into the war and get help from NATO.
The Ukrainian military is having severe moral and desertation problems. I don't know if the law passed, the the government of Ukraine was attempting to pass a law that all deserters will be shot. What is even more alarming is many of the deserters are defecting to the Russian forces. So parading around captured Russian soldiers, whether or not they really are Russian, is an attempt to boost moral. This the same reason military leaders of the ancient world would parade around their captured enemies. Sounds stupid, but it works.
