Ukraine’s armed forces announced plans to carry out joint training exercises with its NATO allies on Saturday, while concern about Russian troop movements across the smaller country’s border increases.
More than 1,000 soldiers from at least five NATO member states will participate in the training later this year, reported The Hill.
The exercises, described on the Facebook page of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, will aim to support Ukraine’s “territorial integrity” in the face of “aggression by one of the hostile neighboring countries” – presumably Russia.
The announcement came less than a day after President Biden, in his first official phone call with President Volodymyr Zelensky, promised his “unwavering support” to Ukraine – and when US defense officials expressed growing concern about an apparent increase in power Russian military in Crimea.
Recent violence in Donbass, where fighting has escalated since Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in 2014, has heightened tensions between neighboring nations.
“We discussed the situation in Donbass in detail,” said Zelensky on Friday. “President Biden assured me that Ukraine will never be alone against Russia’s aggression.”
