Russian soldiers backed by helicopters seize a natural gaz facility near Strilkove in Ukraine 160314

a

Defence & Security News - Ukraine

 
 
Sunday, March 16, 2014 08:08 AM
 
Russian soldiers backed by helicopters seize a natural gaz facility near Strilkove in Ukraine.
Saturday, March 15, 2014, Russian troops backed by four helicopter gunships and three armored combat vehicles seize a natural gas facility near the village of Strilkove about 1:30 p.m. local time, according to Ukrainian officials. It was not immediately clear whether the incursion was a temporary reconnaissance mission or a Russian attempt to secure the Ukrainian energy outpost just off the Crimean coast.
     
Saturday, March 15, 2014, Russian troops in four helicopter gunships and three armored combat vehicles descended on the natural gas facility near the village of Strilkove about 1:30 p.m. local time, according to Ukrainian officials. It was not immediately clear whether the incursion was a temporary reconnaissance mission or a Russian attempt to secure the Ukrainian energy outpost just off the Crimean coast.
The village of Strilkove is about 8 kilometres to the north of the border of the Crimean coast.
     

Four helicopters landed near Strilkove village on the north of Arabat Spit, narrow piece of land on the south of Kherson region, bringing 60 commandos, the State Border Service reported.

At about 3:30 p.m., six more helicopters landed there, bringing 60 more commandos. Several military vehicles were riding along the Arabat Spit at the same time.

The village is on a long spit reaching northward from the main part of the Black Sea peninsula, about 10 kilometres north of the border between Crimea and the Kherson region.

The State Border Guard Service of Ukraine said the Russian troops were on the ground and the Ukrainian guards had taken defensive positions.

The Russians told the Ukrainian border guards they came to defend from possble terrorist attack the local natural gas production station owned by Chornomornaftogaz, an Ukraine exploration company that Crimea authorities have declared as its own property.