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The US accused Moscow of wanting to annex two eastern Ukrainian provinces, the top Russian general secretly visited the Donbass front

US Ambassador: Moscow wants to annex two eastern Ukrainian provinces

The US accused Moscow of wanting to annex two eastern Ukrainian provinces, the top Russian general secretly inspected the Donbass front - Photo 1.

A Russian soldier stands guard outside a damaged apartment building in Donetsk, capital of eastern Ukraine’s Donbass region. AFP photo.

According to the US news agency UPI, Michael Carpenter, US Ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), recently told reporters during a press conference in Washington, DC that Russia has lost in the battle for control of Kiev but is now planning to annex the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics in eastern Ukraine and recognize the city of Kherson in the south of Ukraine as an independent “people’s republic”. .

The senior US official said the plan to annex Donetsk and Lugansk was similar to what they used to annex Crimea in 2014.

He said the US believes the Kremlin may try to hold a referendum on the accession of Donetsk and Lugansk to Russia later this month and that Moscow is considering a similar plan for Kherson.

“This is something we’ve seen in the past, and we’re looking very closely to see if the Kremlin might try to stage something like it in the near future,” Carpenter said. Father.

The US ambassador emphasized that the information he gave was highly reliable, but did not disclose the source.

As evidence, he pointed out that reports of Russian actions in these areas are paving the way for Russia’s annexation of Donetsk and Lugansk. Russia’s actions include kidnapping mayors and local officials, coercing school principals, journalists, activists and city officials, and planning curriculum in schools in the country. southern and eastern Ukraine.

Carpenter stated that the OSCE would not consider these referendums as legitimate nor any attempt to occupy Ukrainian territory.

“We have to act. We must act with urgency,” Carpenter said.

Top Russian general secretly inspects Donbass front

The US accused Moscow of wanting to annex two eastern Ukraine provinces, the top Russian general secretly inspected the Donbass front - Photo 2.

General Gerasimov, Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces is said to have secretly visited the Donbass battlefield. Photo IT

According to The Defense Post, a Pentagon official said on May 2 that Russia’s top general, General Valery Gerasimov, Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces visited the Donbass front in Eastern Ukraine on last week. The official even said that there were reports that General Gerasimov had been injured in a Ukrainian attack, but this information has not been verified by the Pentagon.

“What we can confirm is that we know that, for a few days last week, he (General Gerasimov) was in Donbass,” the senior US defense official told reporters.

“We don’t believe he’s still there, we think he left the front and went back to Russia. We cannot confirm reports that he was injured,” the official added.

According to reports citing Ukrainian officials, Ukrainian forces on April 30 shelled a command center in Izium, where General Gerasimov, the Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, had met with the Russian armed forces. top battlefield commander.

But apparently the Russian General had already left the site before the shelling took place.

General Gerasimov is said to have toured the front to better understand the field conditions and rally Russian troops to try to gain control of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions in Eastern Ukraine.

At a daily news conference about the war, a Pentagon official said on Monday that Russian forces had made minimal progress in the tough fight against Ukrainian troops in the region.

“We see limited progress by the Russians in the Donbass. They have made some small gains east of Izium and Popasna in Lugansk,” the official said, adding that Russian forces are having low morale and are under the direction and organization of the war. weak fight.

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