Russia pulls most troops from Ukraine border, Pentagon says
May 31, 2014
A Pentagon spokesman says a majority of pro-Russian forces are pulling back from the Ukrainian border and returning to their home bases, a withdrawal that the U.S. has been demanding for weeks and a move that Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel called “promising.” “I can confirm that at least two thirds of the Russian forces have repositioned off the border and we are continuing to monitor,” Pentagon spokesman Col. Steve Warren told reporters Friday.
A senior defense official traveling with Defense Secretary Hagel told The Washington Post that approximately seven Russian battalions remain of those that were deployed to the east and south of Ukraine, amounting to a couple of thousand troops.