Ukraine says Russia sends better equipped troops to Crimea border

KIEV (Reuters) - Russia has amassed more troops in recent days equipped with more modern equipment on Ukraine's border with the Crimean region, which has been annexed by Moscow, Oleh Slobodyan, the spokesman for the Ukrainian border guards, said on Thursday. "We can unequivocally say that Russian troops who were there since March are now being replaced with others," he told a briefing amid an increase in tensions between Moscow and Kiev. "These troops are coming with more modern equipment and there are air assault units. In recent days, we see a strengthening of the units that are at the border. Their number increased," Slobodyan said. Russian President Vladimir Putin accused Kiev on Wednesday of using terrorist tactics to try to provoke a new conflict and destabilize Crimea, which Moscow annexed from Ukraine in 2014. Russia said it had thwarted armed Ukrainian attempts to get saboteurs into the peninsula. (Reporting by Pavel Polityuk; writing by Matthias Williams; Editing by Gareth Jones)