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US builds up military activity in Ukraine and Black Sea, says Lavrov

As the Russian foreign minister recalled, seven joint military drills of the Ukrainian army with NATO countries are scheduled to take place on Ukraine’s territory in 2021

© Sergei Guneyev/POOL/TASS

MOSCOW, May 24. /TASS/. The United States is expanding its military activity in Ukraine and arming the Ukrainian army, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview with the newspaper Argumenty I Fakty on Monday.

"I want to use this opportunity to again draw attention to the fact that the United States and its NATO allies are building up their military activity on the territory of Ukraine and in the Black Sea. They are beefing up the Ukrainian army with armaments, rendering it financial and material support and training the Ukrainian armed forces in NATO’s methods of warfare," Russia’s top diplomat said.

As the Russian foreign minister recalled, seven joint military drills of the Ukrainian army with NATO countries are scheduled to take place on Ukraine’s territory in 2021.

"This means that maneuvers take place there every six or eight weeks. The Ukrainian military is taking part in NATO’s largest Defender Europe 2021 drills. Russia has to take all these factors into account in its military planning. And, of course, it’s needless to say that Ukraine’s militarization does not contribute to settling the conflict in Donbass," the Russian foreign minister emphasized.

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Sergey Lavrov United States

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