Russia may stage provocation during unilateral truce, Ukraine says
A Ukrainian defense ministry spokesperson has criticized Russia's unilateral announcement of a three-day truce from Thursday as part of a "disinformation campaign."
Andriy Yusov of the ministry's intelligence directorate spoke to NHK in Kyiv on Monday.
He indicated that Russia could stage acts of sabotage on its own territory during its self-claimed ceasefire period to lay the blame on Ukraine.
Yusov pointed out Russia's propaganda tactic of informing its own population that Ukraine is planning terrorist attacks on Russian territory.
He said this may signify that Russian intelligence services are possibly preparing provocations against their own civilian population in order to blame Ukraine.
Yusov noted that during last month's Easter ceasefire unilaterally announced by Russia, attacks by Russian forces decreased but there was no complete ceasefire.
He warned of a recurrence.
Russia and North Korea recently admitted that North Korean soldiers had joined the fighting in the western Russian region of Kursk, where Ukrainian forces conducted a cross-border offensive.
He said now that collaboration between Russia and North Korea has been made public, a further expansion of the deployment of weapons and soldiers cannot be ruled out.
Yusov said that North Korea has been supplying Russia with ammunition and various weaponry, and without such assistance, Russian President Vladimir Putin would not have been able to continue with offensive operations a long time ago.
He suggested that the bilateral military alliance is a threat.
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