MELITOPOL, March 9. /TASS/. The Ukrainian Army’s 40,000-strong force has been spotted in the Dnepropetrovsk Region near Gulyaipole, and not near Melitopol, the Zaporozhye Region’s authorities have told TASS.
Earlier on Thursday, Acting Governor Yevgeny Balitsky said that the Ukrainian army’s group in the area of Prishib in the Kiev’ controlled territory of the region was estimated at about 40,000 men.
"In connection with today's statement about the buildup of a 40,000-strong group of the Ukrainian army near Prishyb we draw attention to the fact that there are several communities having this name. The one in question is in the Sinelnikovo district of the Dnepropetrovsk Region, not far from Gulyaipole, that is, on the territory of Ukraine. And in the village of Prishib in the Mikhailovskoye district of the Zaporozhye Region, which is located 50 kilometers from Melitopol, there are no Ukrainian troops and cannot be any," the authorities said.
As a result of the referendum, which was held on September 23-27 last year, the whole of the Zaporozhye Region entered Russia as a constituent territory. The city of Zaporozhye, located in the northern part of the region, is now under Kiev’s control. Balitsky said in February that Russian forces controlled about 62.5% of the region's territory.