Ukraine`s Deputy Defense Minister Ihor Dolhov says some 55,000 Russian troops are now massing near the border with Ukraine.
”Currently, Russia has amassed about 55,000 servicemen near the Ukrainian border. The presence of the Russian regular army on the territory of Ukraine varies from 5,000 to 7,500 soldiers. In Crimea, this figure is 23,000 troops, of which 9,000 are on the administrative border,” he said at the fifth Tiger Conference in Kyiv on November 29, LІGA.net reported.
According to Dolhov, a total of 1,000 soldiers of the Russian armed forces is stationed in Transnistria, a self-proclaimed republic on the southwestern border of Ukraine.
”The buildup of [the Russian] forces and military infrastructure in Belarus near the Ukrainian border has been reported,” the deputy minister said.
Russian Defense Ministry announced that it planned to send 80 times more soldiers and military equipment to Belarus in 2017 than in 2016.
See also: Russian regular forces in eastern Ukraine. Infographics
