Russian deployment along Ukrainian border

RUSSIA DEPLOYS 500 COMBAT AIRCRAFT ALONG UKRAINIAN BORDER

Fort Russ,

26 November, 2018

MOSCOW, Russian Federation – As events continue to intensify, Russia has just deployed about 500 tactical aircraft combat aircraft along the border with Ukraine.

This was announced today at a briefing by the representative of the Department of Defense of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, Vadim Skibitsky.

“Today, about 500 tactical aviation combat aircraft and up to 340 army aviation helicopters have been concentrated along the borders of Ukraine,” Skibitsky said.

He noted that Russia is building up a group of aviation of the aerospace forces of the Russian Federation near the border with Ukraine. Ukraine for its part, has increasingly militarized the cease-fire zone separating it from its former regions of Lugansk and Donbass. Its militarization is in violation of the peace agreement, finalized by the UN security council and monitored on the ground by the OSCE.

Since 2013, the Russian Federation has carried out the modernization and restoration of the entire aerodrome network along the Ukrainian-Russian border, the modernization and renewal of the fleet of combat aircraft, including the newest ones, and also expanded the potential of military aviation along the border.

This comes as tensions spiked to a three-year high between Russia and Ukraine. Presently, Martial Law is being considered in Ukraine. Ukraine has also placed its military on the highest level of alert, following a skirmish between Russian and Ukrainian naval vessels.

According to Skibitsky, the crews of these combat aircraft and tactical aircraft are directly involved in the fighting in Syria.

“This indicates that the crews of these aircraft are ready for the use of army and tactical aviation, and in some cases, aviation of the Russian Federation’s long-range aerospace forces against our state,” he stressed.

The combat radius of the aircraft deployed along the border, said Skibitsky, allows you to cover the entire territory of Ukraine.

Also along the border there are 25 tactical battalion groups of the Russian Federation, which are able to perform tasks on the territory of Ukraine.