Ukrainian Armed Forces plan to continue carrying out military exercises near Crimea in the future
Volodymyr Kryzhanovsky, the head of the press service of the "South" Air Command, said that the Ukrainian Armed Forces intend to continue carrying out missile tests not far from the Crimea, as that territory is the optimal test range for such exercises, UNIAN reported.
"The last time such exercises took place was 4 years ago. We had a special testing site on Cape Chauda in the Crimea, but because of the annexation of the peninsula, we lost it. But now we have a new test ground and this place can be considered optimal. We needed a sparsely populated area and a large stretch of sea where it is possible to direct rockets and we found that place," Kryzhanovsky said.
According to the head of the press service of the "South" Air Command, the test firings went very well and all missiles launched by Ukraine hit their targets precisely.
"Chief of the General Staff Viktor Muzhenko and Commander of the Air Force of Ukraine General Serhiy Drozdov stressed that the exercise program is 100% successful as all 16 launched rockets made their target and all targets were different. Also, both combat and transport aircrafts were involved in the exercises along with Air Defense Missile and Radio-Technical troops," Kryzhanovsky stressed.
Yesterday, the Chief of the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Viktor Muzhenko, announced the successful completion of anti-aircraft missile tests in the south.
Secretary of the NSDC of Ukraine, Olexandr Turchynov, in turn, noted that the test of guided medium-range missiles in the Kherson region was successfully completed.
The day before, the President of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko, said that missiles were launched as part of the Air Force exercise in the south of the country, adding that in both combat and transport aircrafts as well as Air Defense Missile units and Radio-Technical troops were involved in the exercise.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexei Meshkov, commenting on the missile exercises of the Ukrainian Air Defense, said, "The attempts of the Ukrainian side to use Russian airspace are, of course, a very dangerous precedent. Unfortunately, we all know the history of the Ukrainian Air Defense, so this kind of attempt is creating real problems for the ordinary passengers."
According to the explanation of the Federal Air Transport Agency, on the eve of the exercise, Kyiv changed the boundaries of dangerous areas for civil aviation in the region of the Crimea, moving them to the west outside the borders of the Russian Federation.