Ukrainian Intelligence Says Russian Army Continuing to Rotate Troops Into Rebel-Controlled Eastern Ukraine

Kiev: Russia military ‘rotating manpower’ in eastern Ukraine

UPI, November 25, 2014

KIEV, Ukraine, Nov. 25 (UPI) — Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council has confirmed new Russian military movements in rebel-controlled eastern Ukraine.

"The enemy is rotating manpower," NSDC spokesman Andriy Lysenko said Tuesday during a press conference.

"The fact that somebody leaves [Donbas] does not mean that they leave Ukraine and that nobody replaces them, because there is information that new forces are coming." 

Lysenko said the NSDC has “recorded a partial withdrawal of Russian troops, but at the same time, according to the latest data, five columns of about 80 vehicles were seen in the last 24 hours moving through the Izvaryne checkpoint in the direction of Luhansk. The lion’s share of these vehicles is cars and buses with personnel and ammunition.”

Commenting Tuesday on the number of Russian soldiers inside Ukraine, Ukraine’s spokesman for the anti-terrorist operation in Donbas, Vladyslav Selezniov, estimated there are between 5,000 and 10,000.

Selezniov declined to offer more specifics on Russian mercenary and troop presence in Ukraine, citing the need for operational discretion. “Our intelligence structures have some data on the number of militants in eastern Ukraine and professional Russian military. However, accurate and detailed information in this regard is not disclosed so as to prevent the Russian side from understanding the extent of our knowledge about the situation.”