Ukrainian Ministry of Defense: Russian military group in the Crimea poses a threat to entire Black Sea
Russian troops in the Black Sea have sufficient strength to control the area, according to Deputy Defense Minister of Ukraine on European Integration Anatoly Petrenko, reports Ukrinform. Petrenko made the statement during a forum in Kyiv called “Occupied Peninsula: Four Years of Resistance.”
According to Petrenko, Russia "created on the peninsula a self-sufficient interdepartmental group that is capable of conducting operations in the north-west strategic direction." "This allows the Russian Federation to control the Black Sea area, project instability to the eastern part of the Black Sea, to control the airspace and to pose a danger to the coastal areas of the entire Black Sea region," he said.
The deputy minister said that there are also 583 armored personnel carriers and 162 artillery systems in the Crimea. Also, in the four years since the Crimea joined Russia, a mixed air division consisting of bombers, attack aircraft and fighters was added to the two regiments of naval aviation that were part of the Russian Black Sea Fleet. Petrenko noted that the number of Russian military aircraft increased from 22 to 113.
Petrenko believes that Russia fully intends to establish a zone of prohibition of access to the Crimean Peninsula.