Andrei Vorobyov, the minister-counselor of the Russian Embassy in Kyiv, was invited to the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry on June 6 to be presented with diplomatic notes, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry reported.
“In particular, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry demanded that Russia explain new facts of gross violation of the Ukrainian-Russian state border regulations,” it said.
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry cited three such facts, including the detention by Ukrainian border guards of armed people carrying a significant amount of weapons at the stretch between Novaya Nadezhda (Russia) and Dibrovka (Ukraine) while they attempted to illegally cross the border from the Russian side on May 30.
Russia also violated Ukraine’s airspace on May 28, and Ukrainian security forces intercept a Russian drone in the antiterrorist operation zone, the Foreign Ministry said.
On June 5, a group of heavily armed people moving on an armored personnel carrier and trucks from the Russian side attacked the Marynivka border checkpoint on Ukrainian territory, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said. After Ukrainian security forces offered armed resistance, the said individuals retreated to Russian territory unhindered, it said.
“Resolute protest has been declared to the Russian side over inaction of the Russian Border Service and other competent agencies, which are not preventing illegal movement of organized armed units and individuals to Ukrainian territory. Such actions on Russia’s part have already undermined security at the Ukrainian-Russian border and dramatically exacerbated the situation in the border districts on Ukrainian territory,” it said.
These events have prompted the Ukrainian government to close eight checkpoints at the Ukrainian-Russian border in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, it said.
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry also mentioned immediate involvement of Russian paramilitary groups, particularly so-called Cossacks, in capturing eight members of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission in Ukraine and holding them in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. “The Russian side has been urged to immediately take the necessary steps to release the captured OSCE mission members as soon as possible,” it said.
