Poroshenko's deputy chief of staff says 9,000 Russian troops are in Ukraine

At present, up to 9,000 Russian military personnel are inside Ukrainian territory, deputy head of the presidential administration Andriy Taranov has said.

''According to the Ukrainian intelligence data which was confirmed by the intelligence services of other countries, there are up to 9,000 Russian troops in the territory of Donetsk and Luhansk regions," Taranov said on Channel 5 on Tuesday evening.

In his words, these 9,000 are part of a total of 50,000 which are deployed along the Ukrainian-Russian border.

Taranov recalled the detention of the Russian Defense Ministry's Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) servicemen Alexander Alexandrov and Yevgeny Yerofeyev. They are charged with terrorism, but have said they do not accept this charge

''Yerofeyev and Alexandrov believed and continue to believe that they are servicemen of the Armed Forces of Russia, who were sent on a special mission in the territory of the temporarily occupied Donetsk and Luhansk regions,'' Taranov said.

He these servicemen carried out an act of terrorism

''I want to emphasize that sergeant Alexandrov had only one cartridge left in his machinegun. And one of them killed our soldier,' Taranov said.