Putin's response to NATO: "I approve" VIDEO

Putin's response to NATO: "I approve" VIDEO

All volunteers will be allowed to go to DNR and LNR to fight. It has also been suggested that more than 16,000 volunteers from the Middle East come to the rescue.

"If you see people who are willing, on a voluntary basis, on a pro bono basis, to come and help people living in Donbas, cooperate with them and help them come to the war zone," Putin said during a session of the National Security Council.

The West does not hide that it gathers mercenaries for Ukraine, Putin said.

"As for gathering mercenaries from all over the world and sending them to Ukraine, we see that they are not hiding, Western sponsors of Ukraine, the Ukrainian regime, they are not hiding, they are doing it openly, without respecting any norms of international law," Putin said. He stated that it was a response to NATO and its assistance to Ukraine.

"If I need to sign a paper to back this decision, I am at your disposal", Putin said. Putin also approved the idea presented by Shoigu, which suggests that Western-made weapons seized in Ukraine should be transferred to the troops of the Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics.

The news comes at a time when Russian forces and militias in Donbas are advancing in Ukraine in the middle of a special military operation, launched on February 24.

Moscow mentioned that the operation was started in order to protect the people of Donbas who are suffering from the attack of the Kyiv forces, and noted that the goal of the operation is the demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine.