Russia’s military presence at the Ukrainian borders still allows their full-scale engagement in Ukraine, said Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Forces Ruslan Khomchak at a meeting of the NATO Military Committee.
‘Despite the announcement of Russia’s Defence Minster about withdrawal of the troops to their permanent stations, Russia has kept about 80 thousand troops and significant amount of armor and military equipment at different points close to the Ukrainian border,” said Khomchak.
He claimed that Russia has moved its military ships to the Azov-Black Sea region to ‘reinforce the Navy group of the Northern Fleet and the Caspian Flotilla’.
‘According to our estimates, this allows for Russia’s fast buildup of the offensive capabilities [..] to stage offensive actions against Ukraine, said the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
The Ukrainian top military official also raised concern over the upcoming joint military drills of Russia and Belarus “Vostok-2021’ that will see Moscow using its allies to exercise political and military pressure on Ukraine.