On May 24th at 12:55 pm, two Mi-35 helicopters belonging to the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation attempted to cross the administrative boundary line between Crimea and Kherson Oblast. According to the press-service of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, military personnel of a look-out station belonging to one of the units of the Ground Forces of Armed Forces of Ukraine, executing orders in the area of Cape Kutara in Kherson Oblast, forced the provocateurs to reverse their course by opening warning fire from an anti-aircraft emplacement.
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry reported that earlier the same day, May 24th, the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine recorded an unauthorized border crossing from the Russian Federation of five trucks and two passenger vehicles with armed men in the area near checkpoint “Dibrovka” in Donetsk Oblast around 4 am. This was reported by the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry relating to provocations from the Russian side at the Ukrainian-Russian border.
The agency released the following official statement relating to the events: “There is every reason to believe that, like with the previous border violations by Russia, this provocation has taken place with the direct assistance and connivance of the Russian border guards”.
Translated by Dasha Darchuk, Edited by Andriy Shymonyak