In an interview on Espresso TV in Ukraine on Nov. 24, Major Oleksandr Taran of the Ukrainian army explains what he saw and heard during recent travel to the zone of military conflict in southeast Ukraine. He spoke to soldiers and officers on both sides of the conflict in Donetsk and Luhansk regions. “Both sides wants an end to this war”, he told Espresso.
Major Taran had harsh words for the Ukrainian government, which he says has no legal foundation for the war it is waging. “What is being done now is forbidden in our Constitution.” He condemns the ‘anti-terrorist operation’ of the Kyiv government, considering it illegal, and says that if the fighters in Donetsk and Luhansk are terrorists, then so is the Ukrainian army side. Shellings of civilian areas are war crimes and international organizations should investigate, he says.
Taran traveled extensively in the rebel region and says he saw Russian vounteer fighters but no regular Russian military units. Watch the eight minute interview here:
