A onetime aide to the Ukrainian defense minister has defected to the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, taking along his entire family and a wealth of classified information, Russian media reported Monday.

“I am Alexander Kolomiyets, a Major-General of the Ukrainian armed forces… My latest position was that of an advisor to the Ukrainian Defense Minister and a senior defense analyst,” the General said during a news conference at the Donetsk News Agency headquarters on Monday.

Alexander Kolomiyets said that he had spent 19 years serving as the military commandant of Donetsk Region.

He also said that many of his fellow commanders were ready to join the pro-independence militia in Donbass.

The General added that Ukrainian army morale was extremely low with “all Generals and officers realizing the criminal nature of Kiev’s actions and refusing to fight any longer.”

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry confirmed General Kolomiyets' defection to the indepndence supporters in Donbass, RIA Novosti reported.

Alexander Kolomiyets is not the first senior Ukrainian military officer to have sided with the pro-independence militia in Donetsk and Lugansk. Earlier, Oleh Chernousov, the onetime head of the Lugansk customs service, and brothers Alexei and Yuri Miroshnichenko, both Ukrainian intelligence service operatives stationed in Paris, moved to Lugansk over their opposition to the policy pursued by the Kiev authorities.