Russian army forces seized two Ukrainian missile defense battalions in the Crimea region 0503143

a

Defence & Security News - Ukraine

 
 
Wednesday, March 5, 2014 11:55 AM
 
Russian army forces seized two Ukrainian missile defense battalions in the Crimea region.
According the Interfax new agency quoted by a military source, Russian forces seized two Ukrainian missile defense battalions in the Crimea region on Wednesday, March 5, 2014.
     
According the Interfax new agency quoted by a military source, Russian forces seized two Ukrainian missile defense battalions in the Crimea region on Wednesday, March 5, 2014.
Tuesday March 4, 2014, troops under Russian command fire weapons into the air and scream orders to turn back at an approaching group of over 100 hundred unarmed Ukrainian troops at the Belbek air base.
     

The Ukrainian Defence Ministry was unable immediately to confirm on the report, which quoted the source saying: "We now expect the arrival of Russian missile specialists and pro-Russian activists who will have to persuade the Ukrainian military personnel to carry out joint combat duties."

Tuesday, Russian forces fired warning shots in a confrontation with Ukrainian servicemen at an air base, while Russian navy ships were reported to have blockaded the strait separating the Ukrainian Black Sea peninsula from Russia.

Russian President Vladimir Putin delivered a robust defense of Russia's actions in Crimea and said on Tuesday that he would use force in Ukraine only as a last resort.

At his first news conference since the crisis began, Putin said Russia reserved the right to use all options to protect compatriots who were living in "terror" in Ukraine but that force was not needed for now.

Tuesday, troops under apparent Russian command, many of them traveling in military trucks and armored personnel carriers, have deployed widely around Crimea, as attested by numerous eyewitness accounts from reporters on the ground.

The troops have seized key strategic points across the peninsula, provoking a tense standoff with the Ukrainian military. Officials in Kiev and other capitals across the world have described the actions as an invasion.

Russia’s upper house of parliament, the Federation Council, approved on Saturday a request by Putin for the deployment of troops inside Ukraine.