KIEV, March 12. /ITAR-TASS/. The Ukrainian army had been placed in maximum operational readiness, parliament-appointed First Deputy Prime Minister Vitaliy Yarema said at a government session on Wednesday.

“Despite a difficult situation, the armed forces have been placed in maximum operational readiness, and all-Ukraine military exercises have started,” he said.

Yarema also said the government was looking into the setting up of Ukraine’s National Guard on the basis of interior troops. “I am confident that, at this difficult time, the army will accomplish its high duty to Ukraine despite consistent sabotage towards undermining national security and defenses of Ukraine over the past four years,” he said.

Prosecution agencies are to shortly “launch an investigation and bring to justice everyone involved in embezzlement of military property in Defense Ministry agencies,” Yarema said.