SEVASTOPOL, Crimea, Aug. 19 (UPI) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to Crimea on Friday comes as Ukraine warns it is preparing for an escalation in hostilities between the two countries.
Crimea was annexed from Ukraine by Russia in 2014, and Putin's visit is his first there since March. At Sevastopol's airport Friday, he stressed Moscow was not planning to reduce ties with Kiev, despite Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko's rejection last week of Putin's claim that two Russian soldiers were killed in separate incidents in Crimea earlier in August.