Ukraine’s armed forces will conduct military exercises on the territory of Ukraine in accordance with its plan, despite any threat, spokesman for the Defense Ministry for military operation matters Andriy Lysenko said.
“With regard to some threats and the like, they cannot interfere with the plans of the armed forces of Ukraine and the designers of military weapons which will be carried out on the territory of a sovereign Ukraine,” Lysenko said at a briefing on Nov. 30 commenting on media reports about the threats by the Russian Defense Ministry to launch a missile strike if Ukraine holds exercises near Crimea.
According to him, Ukraine is an independent state, and all the military exercises and tests will be held according to the plan.
“We have a national territory of Ukraine, where we will carry out all the tests and drills and no one will tell to us what to do here,” the Defense Ministry’s spokesman said.
Lysenko said Ukraine is acting in compliance with all the international agreements.
As reported, last week the Russian Defense Ministry invited an attaché for defense affairs at the Ukrainian embassy to Russia to hand a military and diplomatic note to him due to Ukraine’s plans to hold missile drills near Crimea. According to by the Russian Federal Agency of Air Transport (Rosaviatsiya), on Nov. 24, Kyiv issued a NOTAM (a notice to airmen) regarding increased-danger zones in the airspace due to the missile drills planned on Dec. 1 and Dec. 2.
Later, when asked whether Moscow could possibly carry out a missile strike on Ukraine if the country launches missiles in airspace over Crimea, Russian Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov said Russia would not expect any Ukrainian actions that could prompt creation of dangerous conditions for international air traffic in Russian airspace.
