‘Russia transporting prisoners from Crimea to organise riots in Ukraine’

New Delhi, March 4 (IANS) Russian forces are transporting prisoners from Crimea to destabilise the situation in southern mainland Ukraine, the Armed Forces of Ukraine said.

“The movement of a large number of vehicles from the temporarily occupied territory of Crimea, where the occupiers are transporting criminals from places of execution of punishments to organize riots in the Nikolaev region,” the statement said.

In the Black Sea, a naval group of Russian occupiers was withdrawn from bases, tasked with striking the surface forces of a group of heterogeneous forces of the Ukrainian Navy, UNIAN reported.

The main efforts of the Russians are focused on the encirclement of Kyiv and the weakening of resistance in the blocked settlements.

The ninth era of heroic opposition of the Ukrainian people to the Russian military invasion began, the statement said.

Russia has exhausted most of its operational reserves and has begun preparations for the transfer of additional forces and assets from the Southern and Eastern military districts of the Russian Federation. The second echelons and most of the operational reserves of the occupying groups were put into operation, Ukraine said.

At the same time, the enemy continues to prepare for the landing of marines in the Gulf, Black Sea. The groups are covered by a detachment of fire support ships and a missile boat strike group, UNIAN reported.

To suppress Ukraine’s anti-aircraft defence system on the Black Sea coast, Su-24M bombers were involved and RBC-500 cluster bombs were dropped. The cover was provided by Su-30CM fighters.

The General Staff said that the day before the enemy tried to carry out offensive operations, but did not achieve significant success.

–IANS

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