KIEV, April 27. /TASS/. The Ukrainian armed forces are holding military exercises in the Nikolayev and Kherson regions (in southern Ukraine) close to Crimea, Igor Biryukov, press officer of the South Operations Command, informed TASS.

"The planned combat training and military units’ cohesion exercises began on Thursday. Military servicemen of the South Operations Command’s mechanized infantry brigade are advancing from the Nikolayev region to the Kherson region. It is planned that they will overcome water obstacles four times while on the move," he said.

According to Biryukov, similar drills with overcoming water obstacles are being held on the Dnieper River in the Kherson region on Thursday.

"Neither shooting practice nor missile launches are planned during the drills," he said, adding that the exercises will not affect the work of the checkpoints on the border with Russia’s Crimea.