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Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has said
there are a "record number" of Russian troops on his country's border
with Russia.
Speaking on Ukrainian television, Poroshenko
said that the information came from Nato, US and EU sources as well as
Ukrainian intelligence.
Reports of an increasing Russian presence on the
border have been recurring since Nato commander Philip Breedlove warned last
month of the risk of a return to heavy fighting in Eastern Ukraine. Kiev has
repeatedly reported snap surges in violence by Russian backed rebels in the
Luhansk and Donetsk regions during this time.
Most recently Ukraine's defence forces
complained of 540 violations of the ceasefire signed between Moscow, Kiev and the rebels
in February, in the space of a week at the end of June.
As early as May, a Reuters reporter described seeing a mass build up of
troops and heavy weapons on the Russian side of the Ukraine-Russian border
including tanks, rocket launchers and artillery.
Speaking about the current situation, Poroshenko
told Ukraine's channel 1+1: "We have information that a record number of
Russian armed forces have been stationed the Ukrainian border."
"The evidence we have is not solely from
our own intelligence sources, but we have confirmation from Nato and US lines
as well as from EU states," the Ukrainian leader added.
Poroshenko recently visited some of the
easternmost positions held by pro-Kiev forces in Donetsk region, including the port city Mariupol, the outskirts of which have sustained some of
the most persistent attacks from pro-Russian separatists since February.
"We have information about possible key
targets of attacks and we regularly perform staff exercises," Poroshenko
said. "We will defend our country. Today we have a completely different
army compared with a year ago."
The Ukrainian president did not give a precise
number for how many Russian soldiers he believes are now on Ukraine's border,
but last month defence minister Stepan Poltorak estimated
that there were 55,000.
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