Lt. Gen. (Rtd) Ihor Romanenko, Candidate of Military Sciences, Doctor of Technical Sciences, professor, ex-deputy chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, says Russia has significantly increased its ground forces, navy, and air force potential in Crimea over the four years since the peninsula's annexation, according to Glavred.
The development of military infrastructure at the borders with Ukraine would be a priority for the Russian army, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said at a conference call on Tuesday, according to an UNIAN correspondent in Russia.
The Russian Federation has amassed in the occupied areas of Donbas a military contingent equal to the military forces of almost all NATO allies in Europe, Ukraine’s chief military prosecutor Anatoly Matios told 112 Ukraine TV channel.
A significant number of European countries are in the operational range of Russia's missile weapons, which the Kremlin deployed in the occupied Crimea, according to the infographics published by Ukraine's Ministry for Temporarily Occupied Territories and Internally Displaced Persons.
The rotation and amassing of Russian troops at the borders with Ukraine are related to constant drills aimed at working out the scenario of the invasion of Ukraine, military expert and journalist Yuriy Butusov says, according to Obozrevatel.
Russian President's Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov, while commenting on reports on the strengthening of the grouping of troops on the Ukrainian border, said that Russia could change the configuration of the armed forces on its soil at its own discretion.