Caught red-handed: the Russian Major fighting in Ukraine

As fighting escalates between government troops and rebels in eastern Ukraine, despite the February ceasefire, euronews met with a captured Russian officer, who explains how he was recruited to assist the separatists on Ukranian territory.<br /><br /> Vladimir Starkov was arrested on July 25 with a truck full of ammunition at Berezove checkpoint. He was going from Donetsk to the village of Yasne, in rebel-held territory, but lost his way and was intercepted by a Ukrainian border patrol.<br /><br /> Euronews met him in the detention center in Kyiv where he was sent after his arrest.<br /><br /> “At the time of I was detained, I was a regular serviceman in the armed forces of the Russian Federation with the rank of Major. I was chief of missile and artillery weapons service in the military unit in the Russian city of Novocherkassk”, says Starkov.<br /><br /> Questioned by the Ukranian security service, he said that around 2,000 Russian servicemen are currently deployed in Eastern Ukraine.<br /><br /> Many of them did not volunteer, just