Oleksiy Nozdrachov, the Colonel of Ukraine's Armed Forces made the statement at a roundtable on December 12; it caused a huge outrage of the civil society in social networks. The General Staff of Armed Forces initiated an internal investigation against Nozdrachov. The officer eventualy apologized for his original statement, claiming these words did not reflect his position, and added he was ready for any sort of punishment

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Ukrainian Army Colonel Oleksiy Nozdrachov made an outraging statement, claiming that Ukraine's military was "ready to reintegrate with the Russian army" and mercenaries from the self-proclaimed "republics" of DNR and LNR rather than the volunteers that served with the Ukrainian forces in Donbas since 2014.

The respective claim was made at a roundtable in Kyiv on December 12. The original statement caused a huge outrage of civil society in social networks. Some activists urged their fellow citizens to join the rally in Kyiv, where they would demand an investigation and due punishment for Nozdrachov.

The General Staff of Armed Forces initiated an internal investigation against the officer. The officer eventually apologized for his original statement, claiming these words did not reflect his position or that of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. He added he was "ready for any sort of punishment".