The appeal for the formal recognition of the regions in southeastern Ukraine comes amid heightened tensions on the Russian-Ukrainian border in recent weeks. The leader of the self-proclaimed Lugansk Peoples Republic LPR Leonid Pasechnik stated that a growing number of mercenaries are arriving in the Donbass region of Ukraine under the pretence of military instructors Sputnik reported on January 31He pointed out that when Western countries say theyre sending 200 instructors to Kiev with weaponry to help.

Ukraine Donbass Military Conflict Ar Featuring Combat Operation And Action In 2022 Military Conflict Combat Military -

Kiev has argued that the Donbass separatists are Russian proxies which the Kremlin denies and has criticized Moscows issuing of over half a million passports to citizens living there.