I. Tenyukh: Armed Forces of Ukraine are being put on to full combat readiness

The Armed Forces of Ukraine are being put on to full combat readiness. This was started by acting Minister of Defense of Ukraine Igor Tenyukh following the meeting of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine on March 1, 2014.

"Ukraine has its own Armed Forces that are able to fulfill their constitutional duty," Igor Tenyukh said, adding that he expects the normalization of the situation in Crimea.

"The result of negotiations of Commander of the Naval Forces of Ukraine with the representative of the Russian Federation was easing the blocking of Ukrainian military units in Sevastopol. So, the situation has been improved somewhat. Negotiations will be continued tomorrow. I think it will help normalize the situation as in the Crimea and in the country in general", Igor Tenyukh stressed.

Acting Defense Minister denied the presence of Russian APCs in Kherson and Zaporizhzhya regions.

"Panic rumors, which have been spread in particular concerning the movement of Russian armored personnel carriers from Crimea to Zaporizhya and Kyiv, are unfounded because Ukraine has its own armed forces that are able to fulfill their constitutional duty," Igor Tenyukh said.

He said that officers, NCOs and other ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine have high morale.