The Kremlin has voiced concerns over the defense maneuvers, saying it sets a "dangerous" precedent. But Ukraine's military officials dismissed Moscow's concerns, noting that the drill is in line with international law.
Image: picture alliance/dpa/R. Pilipey
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Ukraine's military on Thursday started a two-day missile drill in the southern Kherson region bordering Crimea, prompting Moscow to criticize the move as a "dangerous precedent."
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the Russian daily "Vedomosti" that Russian forces would shoot down missiles if it threatened the country's territory.
"In the Kremlin, we wouldn't want to see any actions by the Ukrainian side that breached international law and that might create dangerous conditions for international flights over the territory or Russia and adjacent regions," said Peskov.
His remarks come amid Ukrainian media reports that Russia's defense ministry said it would destroy Kyiv's missiles and launchers if it violated Russian airspace.
'No response from Russia'
However, Ukrainian military spokesman Volodymyr Kryzhanovskiy told local news site that 112.ua missiles would not land closer than 19 miles (30 kilometers) from the Crimean border, adding that the drill does not violate international law.
"The launches have started. Everything is going according to plan. There has been no response from Russia, but the Ukrainian military is ready for anything," Kryzhanovskiy said.
Ukraine's national security council chief Oleksandr Turchynov on Wednesday warned that attempts to intimidate Kyiv would prove futile.
"Threats to use weapons against Ukraine are an effort to turn the hybrid war that Russia has been waging against us for the past three years into an active war," he said.
Relations between Moscow and Kyiv have soured since Russia illegally annexed the Crimean Peninsula in an internationally-condemned referendum.
In eastern Ukraine, a pro-Russia insurgency backed by Moscow erupted in the wake of European-leaning revolt in Kyiv that forced out Kremlin ally former President Viktor Yanukovych.
Ukraine stunted by conflict
Despite an official ceasefire, continued shelling keeps Ukraine in a volatile pseudo-war and leaves the country's East economically and politically paralyzed. Photographer Christopher Bobyn reports from the frontline.
Image: DW/C. Bobyn
A room with a view
Near Mariupol, a Ukrainian marine peers at separatist positions through artillery damage in a former sanatorium, now a frontline outpost. Shelling occurs daily despite a ceasefire. Marines along the Sea of Avoz are tasked with keeping pro-Russian separatists from Mariupol, which would provide their self-declared republics with profitable industry and a land bridge between Russia and Crimea.
Image: DW/C. Bobyn
Paradise lost
A marine patrols in the remains of Shirokino, five kilometers from Mariupol. A holiday town on the beaches of the Sea of Avoz, it was leveled by fighting in August. The town was a source of local revenue to Mariupol, as it swelled with thousands of tourists every summer. It now marks the frontline held by Ukraine along the Mariupol city limits, with separatists a mere 600 meters down the beach.
Image: DW/C. Bobyn
Over the top
A series of WWI-like trenches make-up the marine station "Tiger," on the outskirts of Mariupol. Continued shelling and sniper fire along this line keeps marines in a constant state of preparedness, grinding nerves while they reinforce their positions for a drawn-out conflict. The earth and wood trenches and bunkers are not just defenses; they are soldiers' homes during their time on the front.
Image: DW/C. Bobyn
Manning the front
A marine shaves on an autumn morning on the Donetsk front, 500 meters (550 yards) from pro-Russian separatist positions. Ukraine has conscripted thousands through its mobilization act, swelling its military ranks to 280,000 personnel from just 130,000 in December 2014. Now men from across the social spectrum man a 200-kilometer (125-mile) front stretching from the coast into the Ukrainian Steppe.
Image: DW/C. Bobyn
From TV to trenches
Alla, 31, an actor turned military volunteer, works with a civil-military cooperation unit on the Mariupol front. The unit delivers aid to the civilians still living in the war zone and tends to marines with goods and medical treatment. Women are not subject to Ukraine's mobilization draft and must volunteer: "My friend was an officer and said I should serve my country in a time of war. I agreed."
Image: DW/C. Bobyn
A break from war
With an anti-tank RPG at her bedside, Alla checks Facebook after a day on the line and showering with bottled water. She is the only woman living with 20 other male soldiers in an occupied holiday home on the Sea of Avoz. Her comrades built her a makeshift private room from bookshelves and shower curtains: "They're good boys, my friends. I trust them."
Image: DW/C. Bobyn
International assistance
Volunteer Canadian doctors operate on wounded Ukrainian troops in Kyiv's Military Hospital. A group of 40 doctors came from Canada to perform complex surgeries beyond the technical ability of local surgeons. Citizens of Canada and other countries with large Ukrainian diaspora have been crucial in filling the financial and technical gaps of Ukraine's war effort.
Image: DW/C. Bobyn
Scars of war
Andriy, 28, a conscript from Kyiv, was injured by a mine explosion in the Donetsk region. He waits for plastic surgery by Canadian doctors to reduce his scars and remove the shrapnel in his face. The shards are so big he can stick magnets to his cheek and forehead. Before the war he had a business working with satellites. He must finish his 12 months in the military before he can return to work.
Image: DW/C. Bobyn
The home front
Katja sits in her Kyiv flat, where she now lives alone with her daughters, two-year-old Tasha and nine-year-old Anja. Her husband was drafted and serves on the Mariupol front. "It's horrible for me here without him," she says. "I don't need a big house or lots of money, but I need my husband here to raise his daughters."
Image: DW/C. Bobyn
Home away from home
Katja's husband Maxim, 29, sits on his bed in an underground earth and wood bunker on the frontline outside Mariupol, his home for the last three months. Before mobilization he imported clothes from Germany for his three clothing stores. They are now closed without him in Kyiv to run the business, and he will need to rebuild the stores and contacts after his year of conscripted duty is over.
Image: DW/C. Bobyn
An illusive peace
A government soldier mans a checkpoint in Donetsk. Despite the ceasefire, the peace is broken daily by shelling and sniper fire - a war without flashy battles, but rather muddy attrition, with reinforced positions and indiscriminate fire, rendering eastern Ukraine uninhabitable. The state of pseudo-war has left the nation of 45 million in economic and political paralysis.