Photo from function.mil.ru

The Russian Federation has deployed Su-25SM3 attack aircraft from Russia's Stavropol Krai (Territory) to occupied Crimean.

Read alsoRussia could attack from occupied Crimea – Ukraine defense chiefThat is according to the Russian news agency Interfax, referring to Russia's Southern Military District on April 17.

The attack aircraft were deployed allegedly for exercises over the Black Sea with the participation of Su-27SM and Su-30SM fighter jets, as well as Su-24M and Su-34 bombers.

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Russian troops are practicing missile launches and dropping bombs on sea targets.

As was earlier reported, the units of the 58th Army of Russia's Southern Military District, which took part in the war in Donbas in 2014 and in the war against Georgia in 2008, had been deployed in occupied Crimea.

Russia's provocations in Black Sea: Background

  • On April 15, 2021, Ukraine's Foreign Ministry voiced protest to the Russian Federation over restrictions of navigation in the Black Sea amid the transfer of warships from the Caspian Sea.
  • Ukrainian diplomats urge international partners to step up political and diplomatic pressure on the Russian Federation to prevent the escalation of the situation in the Azov-Black Sea region. "The Russian Federation announced that it would close from next week to October some part of the Black Sea waters in the direction of the Kerch Strait for warships and state ships of other countries under the pretext of military exercises. Such actions by Russia are another attempt to violate the norms and principles of international law, usurp Ukraine's sovereign rights as a coastal state, since it is Ukraine that is authorized to regulate navigation in that part of the Black Sea," the Ukrainian ministry said in a statement.
  • The European Union calls Russia to ensure freedom of navigation in the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov.