MOSCOW, December 24. /TASS/. The Zelensky administration’s move to pump up the country’s defense budget by 20% could indicate that Kiev is gearing up to use military force to resolve the Donbass conflict, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said at a briefing on Friday.
"Kiev seems to be getting ready to use military force to resolve the Donbass issue, which is what they call it, instead of putting an end to the civil war that has been raging for seven years," she pointed out. "In an address to the Verkhovna Rada [parliament], Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Shmygal announced plans to increase the country’s defense budget to nearly $12 bln next year," she specified. "These $12 billion are allocated for a war against their own citizens, the people that they so often mention, and whom they think of only when they sign a defense budget. Ukraine’s defense spending has risen by 20%. How can anyone expect peace?" Zakharova concluded.
According to her, the situation along the line of contact in Donbass continues to worsen. "In the past two weeks, the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission recorded nearly 7,000 ceasefire violations, and I would like to point out that it is five times more than in December 2020," the Russian diplomatic spokeswoman stressed. "What does that mean? It means that gunfire and explosions occur in the region approximately every three minutes, endangering someone’s life," Zakharova pointed out.