The Minister of Defence of Ukraine Stepan Poltorak stated that the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine provided for measures in case of a threat of the invasion of Russian troops during the Russian-Belarusian joint drills West-2017, which will be held on September 14-20. He said this after the presentation of Lieutenant-General Anatoliy Syrotenko as the new head of the National University of Defence of Ukraine named after Ivan Chernyakhivsky, - UNIAN reports.
“We monitor the situation. We know about all movements of the Russian troops along our border. We understand the threats that can occur and we will react adequately to the threats that are caused by these drills. The General Staff provided the range of measures that should be the adequate response to the threat of invasion”, - Poltorak commented.
He added that such threat is not excluded independently from the drills.
“The drills implicitly carry a threat because a great number of the military personnel moves along the border with Ukraine within the drills in Belarus”, - he said.
“Anything that takes place on the border with Ukraine we treat as the hostile act and the threat for Ukraine”, - Poltorak added.
The joint drills of Russia and Belarus West-2017 are planned for September 14-20. According to preliminary data, up to 13,000 servicemen will take part in the drills.