MOSCOW, December 24. /TASS/. The Russian Defense Ministry will send two medical units to Simferopol and Yalta to help combat the coronavirus in Crimea, the ministry said in a statement on Thursday.

"Defense Minister Army General Sergei Shoigu has handed down instructions to set up two hospitals in Crimea in accordance with Supreme Commander-in-Chief Vladimir Putin’s order," the statement reads.

"The hospitals will be equipped with ventilators, X-ray, blood analyzer and ultrasound machines and a PCR laboratory," the ministry added.

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced earlier at a joint meeting of the State Council and the Council on National Projects that the Defense Ministry would establish two hospitals in Crimea to combat the coronavirus.