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Kiev digs 100 kilometers of anti-tank ditches on border with Russia — PM

Ukraine's Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk noted that full control over the Ukrainian-Russian border is required by the Minsk agreements
Volunteers seen digging ditches near Ukraine's border with Russia in September 2014 ITAR-TASS/Sergey Kozlov
Volunteers seen digging ditches near Ukraine's border with Russia in September 2014
© ITAR-TASS/Sergey Kozlov

KIEV, June 15. /TASS/. Ukraine has equipped more than 100 kilometers of anti-tank ditches on the border with Russia as part of the European Wall project, Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said on Monday. He was speaking during the ceremony of the handover of vehicles and equipment to the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine provided by the European Union.

"Over the past few months, more than one hundred kilometers of anti-tank ditches, 50 watchtowers and about 400 kilometers of exclusion zone have been equipped. Ukraine is building a high-quality state border," he said.

Yatsenyuk noted that, in accordance with the Minsk agreements, "full control over the Ukrainian-Russian border" had to be restored.

"To make the Ukrainian Border Guard Service truly European and to ensure that it fulfills its tasks to prevent illegal border crossing and control over it, our European partners have allocated a significant amount of financial resources used for purchasing new equipment, vehicles and new control systems," the Ukrainian prime minister said.

The European Wall is a unilateral initiative by the authorities in Kiev to equip Ukraine’s border with Russia. The project initially called The Wall envisages construction of trenches, ditches as well as special facilities.