No land or air border violations occurred during the drills of Russian servicemen, acting Ukrainian Defense Minister Mykhailo Koval has said.
“At noon four transport Il-76 planes were moving along our state border but they have not crossed the border,” Koval told reporters in Kyiv on Saturday.
The Russian armed forces approached the Ukrainian land border by two to three kilometers, Koval said. According to the assessment of the acting minister, the “peak” of the Russian armed forces’ activity near the Ukrainian border was on April 24-25.
The purpose of all these actions is that the Ukrainian authorities refuse holding counter-terrorism operations in three regions of the country, Koval said.
“But I have to say that the counter-terrorism operation continues, though its tempo is not high,” he said.
The operation is being conducted in highly populated regions, Koval said. Examples exist when “offenders hide behind civilians as a human shield,” he said.
As reported, on April 24 Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said that drills of Russian battalion tactical groups started due to the situation escalation in southeastern Ukraine.
