Kremlin accuses Ukraine of covertly planning offensive in Donbas

Moscow [Russia], March 9 : Amid the ongoing conflict with Ukraine, Russia's Defence Ministry on Wednesday has accused Kyiv of having planned an offensive operation in the breakaway Donbas region for March this year, which was defeated by the Russian forces.
The accusation was made in a briefing by the Defence Ministry spokesperson, Major General Igor Konashenkov, who cited some classified documents of the command of the National Guard of Ukraine that were acquired by the Russian servicemen during the ongoing invasion.
Releasing what he called "the original secret order of the commander of the National Guard of Ukraine, Colonel-General Nikolai Balan, dated January 22, 2022," Konashenkov said, "These documents confirm the covert preparation by the Kyiv regime of an offensive operation in the Donbas in March 2022."
"The document is addressed to the heads of the northern Kyiv, southern Odesa and western territorial departments of the National Guard of Ukraine and explains the plan for preparing one of the shock groups for offensive operations in the so-called joint forces operation zone in Donbas," Konashenkov claimed.
He also claimed that the document contains the original signatures of the officials of the command of the National Guard of Ukraine responsible for the tasks.
"The document approves the organizational structure of the battalion-tactical group of the 4th operational brigade of the National Guard, the organization of its comprehensive support and reassignment to the 80th separate air assault brigade of Ukraine," Konashenkov further said.
He added that since 2016, this formation of the air assault troops (80th separate air assault brigade) has been trained by American and British instructors under the "NATO standard" training programs in Lviv.
"Only one question remains unclear so far: how deeply the US leadership and its NATO allies were involved in the planning and preparation of the operation to storm the Donbas by the Ukrainian joint force grouping in early March," the spokesperson said.
"A special military operation of the Russian Armed Forces, conducted since February 24, thwarted a large-scale offensive operation of Ukrainian troops on the Lugansk and Donetsk people's republics in March of this year," Konashenkov claimed.
On February 24, Russia launched what it called "special military operations" in Ukraine after recognising the breakaway regions of Donetsk and Luhansk (in the Donbas region) as independent republics. Russia maintains that the purpose of the invasion is to "demilitarize" and "de-nazify" Ukraine.
Meanwhile, Russia on Tuesday declared a ceasefire amid the ongoing conflict in Ukraine from 10 am (Moscow time) to provide humanitarian corridors in the cities of Kyiv, Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv and Mariupol.
Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the US and its European allies have introduced sanctions targeting several major Russian banks and high-rank Russian officials, including President Vladimir Putin, besides ousting Russia from the SWIFT financial system.
A number of countries, including Japan, South Korea and Australia, have also slapped financial sanctions and travel bans against Russia. They are mulling new targeted penalties to freeze assets and restrict travel against Russia's most influential political and military officials.