Russia has built five pontoon bridges across the Donets river on the border between Ukraine and Russia, which is not controlled by the official government forces, claimed Oleksandr Turchynov, the head of Ukraine’s National Security Council. He also stated that the Russian side has equipped access roads to these crossings.
“This way military infrastructure is formed to ensure movement of additional Russian troops to occupied Ukrainian territory for combat,” said Turchynov. He emphasized that this is yet more proof of Russia’s direct participation in the war in Donbas.
Odesa swore in its new police force, of around 800 officers, today.
President Poroshenko came to the port city and expressed his hope that the Odesa police will be as successful as their Kyiv counterparts. Poroshenko warned police to stay away from bribes. “If you take one, you’ll lose your self-respect,” he said.
To mark the event, the monument to Duke of Richelieu, Odesa's first governor, was dressed in a police hat.
In other news, Wladimir Klitschko, heavyweight world boxing champion, younger brother of Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko, was spotted riding the Kyiv subway.
On Google Translate "Revolution of Dignity" written in Ukrainian translates to "political crisis in Ukraine" in Russian.
Local media report that a portrait of Vladimir Putin, spray-painted on a wall in Simferopol, Crimea, was defaced overnight. City workers have painted over the wall to hide the portrait completely.
Russia Holds Military Exercises In Western Regions
Russian air, ground, and missile forces are conducting exercises in the western reaches of the country amid concerns that Moscow is pursuing an increasingly hostile policy toward Europe.
The Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement on August 25 that 10 regiments equipped with Yars and Topol mobile ICBM launchers were on "combat patrol routes" in the country's western and central military districts.
It did not specify how far from the borders with Ukraine and Western European countries the exercises in the western region were.
Separately, the Interfax news agency cited the military as saying artillery and helicopter exercises were taking place in the Pskov and Leningradsky regions, both of which border former Soviet Baltic republics.
Based on reporting by AP and Interfax
Twitter users point out that Oleh Sentsov’s sentence is one year short of Anders Behring Breivik’s, the Norwegian extremist who massacred 77 people in 2011.