Ukraine Sends Two Russian Border Guards To Pretrial Detention

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) says two Russian border guards detained on June 30 in the Kherson region, near Russian-controlled Crimea, have been sent to pretrial detention.

In a statement on July 11, the SBU said the two Russians were informed that they are suspected of violating Ukraine's territorial integrity and sovereignty.

On June 30, Ukrainian Border Service chief Viktor Nazarenko said that the two detained Russian border guards had claimed that they had lost their way during drills. Initially a local court in the Kherson region ordered them held in custody for 15 days.

The SBU has identified them as Askar Kulub and Vladimir Kuznetsov.

The Kherson region borders Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula that Russia seized in 2014 after sending in troops and staging a referendum considered illegitimate by Ukraine, the United States, and most world countries.