The Russian military says more than 2,000 servicemen are taking part in "large-scale" air-defense exercises in southern Russia, Crimea, and the breakaway Georgian regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
The military's Southern Federal District said on March 5 that 500 pieces of heavy weaponry or military equipment were being used in the drills conducted by air-defense units, whose job is to repel attacks by aircraft and missiles.It said drills were taking place at 12 training grounds in Russia's Southern, North Caucasus, and Crimean federal districts as well as at bases in Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
It was not immediately clear how long they would last.Previous exercises in western and southern Russia have raised concerns among neighbors, as well as accusations that Moscow has used them as cover for sending forces into Ukraine to support rebels in a conflict that has killed more than 6,000 people since April.
Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in March 2014 and recognized Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent countries in 2008 -- both moves that have been widely condemned by other nations.Based on rerporting by RIA, Interfax, and Reuters
From RFE/RL's News Desk:
Ukraine's military says one of its soldiers has been killed and another wounded in fighting in eastern Ukraine over the past 24 hours.
The casualties underscore the fragility of a cease-fire between government forces and Russian-backed separatists in a conflict that has killed more than 6,000 people since April.
Zoryan Shkiryak, an adviser to Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov, accused the rebels on March 5 of violating the truce agreement signed in Minsk last month and of building up forces near the government-held coastal city of Mariupol, on the Azov Sea.
Meanwhile, rebel officials said no shelling or fighting were reported in Donetsk region overnight.
In the Black Sea port city of Odesa, police are investigating an overnight explosion outside the office of the nationalist group Right Sector.
No casualties were reported.
BREAKING: The Russian military says more than 2,000 servicemen are taking part in air-defense exercises in southern Russia, Crimea, and the breakaway Georgian regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
From RFE/RL's News Desk:
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has declared a day of national mourning for the more than 30 people killed in a coal mine blast in the eastern city of Donetsk.
Poroshenko decreed a minute's silence to be observed at noon on March 5 for victims of the blast at the Zasyadko mine in the rebel-controlled city.
Emergency officials in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic said the bodies of 32 miners had been recovered and one was still missing.
The blast occurred before dawn on March 4 more than 1,000 meters underground.
Russian-backed separatist officials said the accident was caused by methane gas.
Ukrainian authorities attempted to send rescue teams to the region, but Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said the separatists refused to give them access.