Ukraine has information on the mass provocations militants are preparing for the celebration of May 9 in Donetsk and Luhansk, Military Spokesman of the Presidential Administration of Ukraine Andriy Lysenko has said.
“According to the intelligence data, heads of the armed groups are preparing a full-scale bloody provocation on May 9, the militants are going to shoot at a peaceful rally [participants] in Donetsk. The enemy will blame the ATO forces for this terrorist attack. [The enemy] will use the blood of peaceful resident of Donbas as a reason to attack Ukrainian positions in Shyrokyne, Pisky and Stanytsia Luhanska – from three directions,” he said at a briefing in Kyiv on May 5.
In this regard, Lysenko noted that peaceful residents that would be invited or even made to attend such rallies shouldn’t go there, as there might be provocations.
“It concerns the occupied territories,” Lysenko noted.
He also noted that the anti-terrorist operation headquarters had information that the militants were bringing up equipment and troops from the rear specifically to Luhansk and Donetsk.
“On numerous occasions did they show columns of equipment they were allegedly going to use in military parades. As far as we understand, in order to provoke the situation and create a reason to blame ATO forces that we’re allegedly violating the Minsk agreements, the militants are resorting to shooting at their units and blaming Ukraine for that,” Lysenko added.
