Putin Agrees on Sending Volunteers to Ukraine: Seized Western Weapons Must Be Transferred to DPR, LPR

By Staff, Agencies 

The Russian President Vladimir Putin confirmed that “Volunteers from who want to help Russia in Ukraine should be assisted in reaching the area of combat operations.”

During a National Security Council meeting, Putin said: “If you see people who want - on a voluntary basis, especially not for money - to come and help people living in the Donbass - well, you need to cooperate with them and help them move to the war zone.”

For his part, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu noted that there is a vast number of people who want to help the DPR and LPR in the special operation - over 16,000, with many of them coming from the Middle East.

The Russian president also approved an idea put forward by Shoigu, suggesting that western-made weapons [small arms, tanks, anti-tank guided missiles and man-portable air-defense systems] seized in Ukraine should be transferred to the troops of the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics.

“The General Staff is developing and has practically completed a plan to strengthen our western borders, including, of course, those new, modern complexes, and to move combat units there to protect our western borders,” Shoigu said.

The news comes as Russian forces and the Donbass militias are advancing in Ukraine amid the special military operation, launched on 24 February. 

Moscow noted that the operation was started in order to protect the people of Donbass, who were suffering from attacks by Kiev's forces, and noted that the goal of the operation is the demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine.