Ukraine’s intel: Mercenaries housing in local residents’ abandoned homes in Donetsk
Russian mercenaries are willfully occupying temporarily uninhabited houses that their owners left when fleeing from the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), Ukrainian MoD Spokesman Maksym Praut said at Monday’s briefing referring to the country’s intelligence services.
According to him, the mercenaries who arrived in Donetsk in February on a rotational system have been spotted of intruding. Moreover, upon the pretext of ‘mobilisation needs’, real property assets are forcibly taken from local citizens; then the units of law enforcement agencies are often deployed there.
The DPR authorities fail to take any measures to stop the illegal activities, Ukrainian intel officers say.
In April 2019, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree easing citizenship rules for residents of Luhansk and Donetsk ‘republics’. The decision was made ‘in order to protect human rights and freedoms’.
