Russia has launched fresh military exercises in the south of the country as fighting intensifies between pro-Moscow forces and government troops in Ukraine.

According to local media reports, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Wednesday that long-range anti-aircraft and anti-missile systems will be tested throughout the exercises at Ashuluk airbase in the Astrakhan region, 640 kilometers from the volatile eastern Ukrainian city of Lugansk.

Russian Defense Ministry spokesman, Colonel Igor Klimov said: “Today, S-300 (SA-21 Grumble) and S-400 Triumph (SA-21 Growler) surface-to-air missile systems will carry out around 20 rocket launches. Air defense missile units are to repel an aggressor’s massive air missile strike and destroy high-altitude, low-altitude and ballistic targets.”

He added that the drills involve 200 pieces of military equipment and more than 800 Russian soldiers.

Russia has recently conducted numerous military exercises which the West has criticized as intending to intimidate Ukraine. Moscow, however, denies the claims.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has also held a number of war games in Eastern Europe and reinforced its air patrol over the Baltic region since March following the integration of Ukraine's then autonomous region of Crimea into the Russian Federation. Moscow has repeatedly denounced the Western military alliance’s moves as a sign of aggression amid the ongoing crisis in Ukraine.