OREANDA-NEWS. The Ukrainian authorities may have plans to resolve the conflict in the southeast of the country by force, Federation Council speaker Valentina Matvinko said at the opening of the spring session. 

"The current Kiev regime is most likely hatching plans to try once again to solve the problem of Donetsk and Luhansk by force,"- Matviyenko said.

The Ukrainian leadership is planning provocations "on the recommendations of its Western masters" in order to accuse Russia without evidence, she added. According to Matviyenko, Russia's accusations of plans to "attack" Ukraine point to an information war unleashed and the "hysteria" of Western countries on this issue is "off the charts".

"Behind this fog of lies and deception is the military development of Ukraine, the supply of lethal weapons instead of the implementation of the Minsk agreements,"- the Federation Council speaker said.

The Kremlin has repeatedly denied allegations of Russian plans to "invade" Ukraine. However, US and European authorities continue to claim the concentration of Russian troops on the border with Ukraine and warn of harsh sanctions in case of a possible invasion.

Amid rising tensions, the USA started to supply Kiev with additional military aid. On 25 January, a plane flew to Kiev with the third batch of supplies. Ukraine received "modern defence equipment and ammunition,"- Ukrainian Deputy Defence Minister Anna Malyar said. According to Fox News TV sources, the USA also delivered to the country a batch of Javelin anti-tank missile systems.

For its part, the Kremlin reported signs of a possible Ukrainian army offensive in Donbas. The press secretary of the Russian president, Dmitriy Peskov, said that the Ukrainian authorities were concentrating "a huge amount" of armed forces and means on the line of contact.