Russia announced today the start of withdrawing the forces that participated in exercises in the Crimea peninsula to their bases, and Ukraine and NATO welcomed this step, while a Ukrainian soldier was killed in the Donbas front in the east of the country in artillery shelling of the pro-Moscow separatists.
The Russian Ministry of Defense stated that the withdrawal of forces includes only those mobilized from other regions to participate in the exercises in the Crimea - which Russia annexed years ago - and on the Ukrainian borders, and the Russian exercises in Crimea participated in 10 thousand soldiers and from the air force, and about 40 warships. , Air defense forces and airborne forces.
Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said - earlier in a statement - that "the forces have demonstrated their ability to ensure the reliable defense of the country. Therefore, they decided to end the vetting activities in the southern and western military provinces" bordering Ukraine.
On Thursday, Russia announced that it had ordered its forces to return to its bases from the area near the border with Ukraine, which appeared to be an announcement to stop the mobilization of tens of thousands of soldiers, which caused concern in the West.
Ukrainian welcome
The Kiev authorities expressed their hope that this step from Moscow would calm the situation in the Donbas region, which is witnessing clashes between Ukrainian forces and separatists.
NATO also welcomed this step, and said that it would remain vigilant and would continue to monitor Russia's military build-up, which it described as unjustified, near the border with Ukraine.
In response to an invitation from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to hold a bilateral summit to discuss relations between the two countries, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that he was ready to meet with him, but "the situation in the Donbas region must be discussed by the Ukrainian president with representatives of residents of the regions experiencing tension."
On the other hand, the Ukrainian Chief of Staff, south of Donbas, said that his country's forces continued maneuvers near Crimea, stressing that the air defense forces were ready to thwart any Russian attack.
As for Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuliba, he said in an interview with Al Jazeera that Ukraine is not fighting separatists, but agents of Russia and the Russian regular army in the east of the country, as he described it.
Minister Kuliba said, "Of course, Russia wants to portray the conflict as an internal one, but of course this is not the reality, and the international nature of this conflict has been confirmed by many international resolutions and documents."
Field situation
On the field level, the Ukrainian army said that one of its soldiers was killed on the Donbas front yesterday, Thursday, after targeting a military site with artillery shells by the pro-Russian separatists, and the renewed clashes between the two sides since the beginning of the year have resulted in the killing of 31 Ukrainian soldiers and 22 armed separatists.
The Ukrainian army added that 20 violations of the ceasefire agreement were recorded in the last 24 hours, as its sites were subjected to artillery shells and rounds of heavy and light machine guns.
The Ukrainian side submitted a report to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, as one of the sponsors of the ceasefire agreement, and indicated that it would keep its forces on high alert.
It is noteworthy that the Russian-Ukrainian relations have been witnessing an escalating tension for about 7 years, after Moscow illegally annexed the Ukrainian Crimean peninsula to its territory, and its support for separatists in the Donbas region, eastern Ukraine.