China, India express interest in NITKA testing ground

Ukraine is conducting negotiations with India and China on the use of the NITKA testing ground in Crimea, Ukrainian deputy defense minister Volodymyr Mozharovsky told a briefing in Kyiv on Friday.

"If Russia refuses, there are other countries that are expressing certain interest in its use. Specifically, these countries are India, China and others," he said, Interfax-Ukraine informed.

Mozharovsky specified that negotiations on this matter are being conducted with India and China, but it is now too early to speak about reaching any agreements.

The Ukrainian Defense Ministry said Russian pilots will not train on the ground-based engineering-technical aviation complex (NITKA) in Crimea this year because they are involved in other events.