NATO commander says Russian forces are still in east Ukraine

A pro-Russian rebel guards convoy of white trucks with humanitarian aid from Russia in the town of Donetsk, eastern Ukraine, Saturday, Sept. 20, 2014. Picture used for representational purpose only. (Photo: AP)

Kyiv: NATO’s top military commander said during a visit to Kyiv on Wednesday that Russian forces were still operating in eastern Ukraine, providing the “backbone” to separatist rebels fighting government forces.

US Air Force General Philip Breedlove, NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Europe, also expressed concern over what he said was Moscow’s militarization of the Crimea peninsula which Russia annexed from Ukraine in March.