Deputy Defense Minister of Ukraine Lieutenant-General Anatoly Petrenko said that Russia created a powerful military group in the Crimea that is able to control the Black Sea area.

"If in 2013 there were about 12,000 servicemen of the Russian Federation, now this number exceeds 31,000, if there were no Russian tanks in the Crimea in 2013, this year there are 40 of them," Petrenko quoted Ukrinform as saying.. He added that there are also 583 armored personnel carriers and 162 artillery systems on the peninsula. Petrenko noted that in four years a mixed aviation division was added to the two regiments of naval aviation that were in the Russian Black Sea Fleet, which includes bombers, ground attack planes and fighters, the number of Russian military aircraft increased from 22 units to 113.

According to the Deputy Minister, this allows the Russian Federation to control the Black Sea area, and the airspace of the region.

The official of the Defense Ministry of the Independent stressed that in the Crimea, Russia has warships and submarines with sea-based cruise missiles Caliber that showed themselves in Syria. "Now there are eight such ships in the Black Sea Fleet, and they can summarily carry out a volley with 52 units of cruise missiles," the deputy minister said.. Petrenko believes that Russia is implementing the concept of the so-called "zone of prohibition of access to the Crimean peninsula" in order to be able to monitor any military platforms that will be stationed in the Black Sea.