(VOVworld) - Ukraine’s military Chief of Staff Viktor Muzhenko admitted Russian troops have not been taking part in combat operations in the Ukraine’s eastern region during news briefing in Kiev on Thursday. This is the first time Ukraine acknowledged that Russian regular army units were not involved in combat action in Donetsk and Luhansk regions which go against accusations of the US and the west regarding Russia’s involvement in Ukraine’s military conflict. Muzhenko added, however, that he had information about Russian civilian and military individuals fighting alongside independence supporters in the country’s east. He also said the Ukrainian army had everything it needed to rout what he described as illegal armed units in Donetsk and Luhansk.