Russia on Sept. 27 started military drills in Crimea — the Ukrainian peninsula that the Kremlin invaded in 2014 and still illegally occupies.
The news from Russian state agency TASS came just a week after Ukraine’s joint exercises with the U.S. and other 14 countries including NATO members kicked off in western Ukraine.
Russia regularly holds training in Crimea and continues further militarization of the peninsula since the occupation in 2014. According to the Crimean Tatar Resource Center, in the first half of 2021, Russia conducted 20 military exercises in Crimea, which involved 23,850 service members and more than 1,900 units of military equipment.
TASS reported that Russia’s current drills are taking place at the Opuk training area in the eastern part of Crimea, involving more than 2,000 servicemen and 100 military and special equipment units. Russian troops are exercising coastal defense during the day and night-time, as well as offensive amphibious landing operations. The training will go on for three days.
Earlier on Sept. 23, Russia’s navy completed a three-day exercise in the Black Sea. The drills kicked off on the same day Ukraine started joint military exercises with 15 countries including the U.S.
Ukraine is hosting an annual Rapid Trident exercise through Oct. 1 at a training center in Yavoriv, Lviv Oblast. According to the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the drills are the biggest in their 15-year history, involving 6,000 troops.
Earlier in September, Russia, joined by Belarus, conducted what could be its biggest military exercise since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, involving about 200,000 servicemen.
