Four battalions of Russian troops remain in Ukraine

A large number of Russian troops remain near the Ukrainian border.

The statement was made by NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Europe Philip Breedlove, RFE/RL reports.

According to him, Russia removed a part of its troops from Ukraine, but they remain close to the border. “From a peak of well over 10 battalion task groups inside of Ukraine, I believe we're now down to elements of probably four battalion task groups inside Ukraine. The Russians have been removing forces to the east of the Ukrainian border back into Russia, but make no mistake -- those forces are close enough to be quickly brought back to bear if required,” he said.

Gen. Breedlove stressed the hybrid warfare used by Russia is a danger to the safety and security of Europe. “Europe, despite the great work of our predecessors over the last 70 years, has become a region under tension. Russia has forcefully changed borders of several countries by violating their territorial sovereignty. Russia has illegally annexed a part of one of them, something we will never acknowledge. Russia has also used asymmetric hybrid warfare to further illicit transgressions, which is a danger to their neighbors and the safety and security of Europe,” Breedlove said.

Andriy Lysenko, a spokesman for the National Security and Defense Council, said earlier that according to the intelligence data, about 2,000 Russian servicemen died in Ukraine. Lysenko noted the killed soldiers were from 18 subdivisions and units of the Russian Armed Forces from more than 10 regions.

A protocol on a ceasefire in the Donbas region was signed in Minsk on September 5 following a meeting of the trilateral contact group on Ukraine. However, Russian troops and militants violate the ceasefire firing at the positions of the Ukrainian army.