A Russian opposition politician , Ilya Ponomarev , said " I am absolutely confident that in the eastern regions of Ukraine there are Russian troops in very small numbers . And it 's not regular soldiers , but likely representatives of special forces and military intelligence . " Later in July , after the shooting down of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 , he said that " Putin now understands that he has passed weapons to the wrong people " . He also said that even if Moscow stopped the supply of weapons to the Donbass , there would still be enough supporters of the war in the Russian military to continue such shipments unofficially
Malaysia Airlines Flight 17
Malaysia Airlines Flight 17
Russian military intervention in Ukraine (2014–present)