MOSCOW. Aug 20 (Interfax) - The militia have called the statements by the Ukrainian military that "a column of Russian armored vehicles" has entered Luhansk "a bluff."
"It's a bluff. It's a lie, there is no Russian column there. This isn't the first time the Ukrainians are making such statements, and they are always false. They seem to have some passion for these columns," Konstantin Knyrik, the head of the information center Southeastern Front, told Interfax.
Knyrik reiterated that armored vehicles possessed by the militia are trophies.
"We are not getting any equipment from Russia. The equipment left by Ukrainian defectors on the battlefield is enough for us. We just don't have a need for additional equipment," Knyrik said.
Dmytro Tymchuk, the head of an information group close to the Ukrainian military, said on a social networking site in the early hours of Wednesday that "up to forty units of heavy military armored vehicles from Russia" had broken through to Luhansk.
Tymchuk admitted that he could not explain how "the column was able to break through the encircling line, bearing in mind that Luhansk is encircled by a chain of checkpoints and strongholds."