Oligarch Ihor Kolomoyskyi considers the war in the Donbass "internal civil conflict". He said this in an interview with the Novoye Vremia magazine.
"What happened in the Donbass?... This is an internal civil conflict", - he stated.
According to Kolomoyskyi, the conflict in the Donbass "is not inspired by anyone, this is not Russia" despite the presence of the Russian military equipment and Russian soldiers there.
"It is still there, the Russian equipment, and it will be there. The Russian equipment will be there as long as there is a conflict. This is the reality of life. Yes, it is there. And we have American equipment from this side. What is wrong with that? Do we have Javelins? Whose equipment is it?", - the oligarch stated.
He added that the USA provided Ukraine with military equipment "to support the conflict in the Donbas", because "it is advantageous for America to keep sanctions against Russia". "In any case, it was like that under the previous president. I think that current president (Donald Trump) has a different point of view, but he does not know how to get out of it. He may not hurrying with that on the eve of the next presidential election", - Kolomoyskyi stated.
At the same time, he acknowledged the presence in the Donbass of not only Russian equipment, but also the Russian military. "We say that the Russian military is present in the Donbass. This is the fact. They are, however, disguised as vacationers or someone else. The 1st and 2nd corps are in the DNR-LNR, the officer corps for sure. There are definitely a lot of Russian military personnel who went on a "vacation" or "business trip" - to fulfill their international duty... Do not make a catastrophe out of it - this is normal", - the oligarch said.
He added that soldiers came to Ukraine to "fulfill their international duty" from Western Europe and the USA as well, without specifying exactly what he had in mind.
"But we have a basis, a spit of this conflict, - this is an internal Ukrainian conflict, which, by the way, has been preparing for 20 years. At least since 2004, from the election of Yushchenko-Yanukovych. It was clear for the first time at that time hat we are ready for this", - Kolomoyskyi stressed.
As previously reported, on May 2, Ihor Kolomoyskyi had already called the war in the Donbass "civil conflict". He stated that Russia supported one side, and if not its participation, the conflict would have been settled long ago. "It was provoked and organized by Russia. On the one hand. And on the other hand, not everything was all right either", - he stated.
Since the spring of 2014, Russia has unleashed the war in the Donbass, continues to supply money and weapons, having creatiled a full-fledged army out of the Russian military, citizens of the Russian Federation and local separatist elements in the occupied areas. As a result of the Russian aggression, more than 10 thousand Ukrainians died, more than 20 thousand were injured, 1.8 million Ukrainians became internally displaced persons.