The first successful missile launches have taken place during Air Force exercises in the southern part of the country, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said.

"The first reports on successful launches conducted this morning have now arrived. These exercises involve combat and transport aviation and units of air defense and radio-technical troops," the president said during the ceremony to give the banner to the operative-purpose battalion of Military Unit No. 3066 in Kyiv on Thursday.

Oleksandr Turchynov, secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council (NSDC), for his part, said the purpose of the air defense missile firing exercise was "to be ready to repel any provocations."

"Our task is to defend our state and our task is to be ready to repel any provocation. Therefore, the tests of missiles capable of hitting both air and above-water targets were devoted to that," he said.

Turchynov promised that video recordings of the tests will be made public after they are completed.