KRASNODAR, February 3. /TASS/. The level of preparedness of Russian servicemen is higher than that of Kiev troops, although the latter are being trained by NATO specialists, a Russian lawmaker who is taking part in the special military operation as a volunteer has said.
"Clearly, [members of the Ukrainian armed forces] are far from being amateurs: it should be understood that they were trained <…> by instructors and specialists from NATO. Today, it is clear and no one is making secret of [NATO’s] large-scale additional training of Ukrainian troops," said Yevgeny Pervyshov, who is a former mayor of the southern Russian city of Krasnodar and a member of the Russian parliament’s lower chamber, the State Duma.
"Not that they [Ukrainian servicemen] are excellent fighters, but they are good ones. Naturally, our regiments are better trained, it’s a certain fact: we are inflicting more damage on the adversary than the adversary inflicts on us," the lawmaker went on.
In his words, Ukrainian military units are being reinforced with retired officers and servicemen from NATO, who were de-facto sent to Ukraine by their commanders. Many of them support the neo-Nazi ideology, Pervyshov added.
Pervyshov applied to participate in the special military operation in Ukraine as a volunteer in October 2022. The lawmaker, who underwent training and has military experience, departed to the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) as a volunteer in November. In January 2023, he said he had made the decision to extend his contract.