The Ukrainian military announced on Saturday that it will hold joint military exercises with NATO forces later this year amid escalating violence with pro-Russian separatists in the eastern part of the country.
The armed forces said in a statement on Facebook that the exercises will be held in a few months with more than 1,000 soldiers from at least five NATO member states.
In particular, defensive actions will be elaborated, followed by an offensive to restore the state border and territorial integrity of a state exposed to aggression by one of its hostile neighbors, “the statement said, in an apparent reference to Russia.
An exact date for the exercises was not provided.
Moscow had preemptively sanctioned any possible deployment of NATO personnel in Ukraine and warned that this would increase pressure along the border between the two countries.
But pressure has already increased along the border as Russia is building its military presence on its side of the barrier. Fighting also intensified with separatists backed by Moscow in eastern Ukraine, signaling the potential end of a ceasefire in the Donetsk region.
The Ukrainian parliament issued a statement this week declaring an “escalation” along the front, citing a “significant increase in shelling and armed provocations by the armed forces of the Russian Federation.”
Ukraine, which represents NATO’s frontline in Eastern Europe against Russian expansion, pressured Western governments to “continue and increase international political and economic pressure on Russia”.