Russia Has Troops İn Ukraine, Says NATO Official

More than 1,000 Russian soldiers equipped with heavy weapons are operating in Ukraine, said a NATO official Thursday. 



Nico Tak, brigadier general of NATO Comprehensive Crisis and Operations Management Centre, or CCOMC, said that pro-Russian separatists had prevented defeat with the help of 1,000 Russian troops in Ukraine and said there were about 20,000 Russian troops amassed at the border with Ukraine.



Russia has provided separatists in eastern Ukraine with air-defense systems, tanks, artillery, and armored personnel carriers, added Tak.



Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko had earlier accused Russia of deploying troops in Ukraine and called an urgent National Security Council meeting concerning the deteriorating situation in the Donetsk region.



Ukraine has also asked for a meeting of the United Nations Security Council to tackle the crisis.



Poroshenko also cancelled his participation at the presidential inauguration of Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Turkey on Thursday.



Andrey Lysenko, spokesman of the Ukrainian Security Council, said that pro-Russian separatists had seized the coastal town of Novoazovsk, Because Ukrainian troops do not possess heavy weapons, they had to retreat to save lives, added Lysenko.



Lysenko said the Ukrainian soldiers were now preparing to defend the strategic port city of Mariupol. 



Ukraine launched military operations in the eastern provinces of Donetsk and Lugansk in mid-April to restore government control after pro-Russian separatists declared independence of the regions.



www.aa.com.tr/en - Brüksel