The State Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) will guard important strategic facilities in the ports of Odesa, Kherson, Zaporizhia and Mykolaiv Oblasts starting from April 1, the press service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine has reported.
“Starting today, sea and river ports in Kherson, Odesa, Mykolaiv and Zaporizhia Oblasts will be guarded by employees of the SBU,” head of the State Security Service Department at the Interior Ministry of Ukraine Serhiy Budnyk has said.
According to him, under the initiative of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, relevant instructions were issued by the Interior Ministry and contracts for the protection of the ports were concluded with the management bodies of the Odesa, Illichivsk, Bilhorod-Dnistrovsky, Izmail, Reni and Yuzhny ports in Odesa Oblast; Kherson Mykolaiv maritime merchant port in Kherson Oblast, Mykolaiv maritime merchant port in Mykolaiv Oblast, and Berdiansk maritime merchant port in Zaporizhia Oblast.
These facilities will be guarded by SBU employees equipped with service guns and automatic firearms.
“Law enforcement officers will be guarding strategic objects from sabotage, acts of terrorism, smuggling and illegal entry. In addition, the police, together with port workers, will inspect goods and check the documents provided by ships,” the press service said.
