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On Monday, Russia brought to an end its military exercises near the Ukrainian border, days ahead of a vital Presidential vote in Ukraine which aims to end the crisis in the country. The office of Russian President Vladimir Putin said that he had ordered several thousand Russian soldiers stationed near the Ukrainian border to return to their barracks as the spring exercises had come to an end.
However, the Russian government added that Putin had also demanded the Ukrainian government to stop military action against rebels in Eastern Ukraine. The move could help ease tensions in the region as fighting continued in Eastern Ukraine during his statement, with one soldier reported to have been killed in an attack in the rebel-held town Slavyansk.
After meeting with its Security Council, the Kremlin issued a statement, saying, “Due to the end of the planned spring training of troops that included their movement to Rostov, Belgorod, and Bryansk regions, the Russian president ordered… troops participating in the drills to return to their permanent bases”. The statement also urged an “immediate end” to the Ukrainian military offensive in eastern Ukraine, describing the operation against the separatists as “punitive”.
The Ukrainian Defense Ministry issued a statement on the attack in Slavyansk, saying that a soldier had died and three others were injured when rebels hidden in a kindergarten attacked a military checkpoint on Monday. “The terrorists, acting in their usual cynical and insidious manner, launched the attack from a kindergarten near the railway station.They wanted to provoke the servicemen into trying to destroy the kindergarten”, it said.
Preparations for the vote continued on Monday, with the West considering it the only way to end the crisis in Ukraine. However, nobody knows of the vote’s credibility, especially as fighting between rebels and Ukrainian troops continued in dozens of towns in Lugansk and Donetsk.
