Ukrainian Defense Minister: “Russia is not going to attack, but we are waiting”
Despite statements American and Ukrainian experts about a possible attack by the Russian army, no activity of the Russian Armed Forces was noticed near the borders of Ukraine.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Andrei Taran announced this during his report to the Verkhovna Rada, the PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“Over the past month, many reports have appeared in the media about the possibility of an armed attack by the Russian Federation and the intensification of hostilities specifically in the Crimean direction. In this context, we must remember words of the former commander of the US Army in Europe, as well as a number of articles that not only repeated the words of the American retired general, but also provided expert comments.
In this regard, I would like to state: at the moment, no direct preparations for active military operations by the Russian occupation forces near the administrative border of the Kherson region from the temporarily occupied territory of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea have been identified. There are no recorded actions to create strike groups on the peninsula,” the minister noted.
However, despite this, he emphasized that the Ukrainian army is waiting and preparing for a Russian attack.
“At the same time, remembering the unpredictability of decisions of the leadership of the Russian Federation, the armed forces of Ukraine are taking some measures to prevent and adequately respond to possible actions on the part of the Russian Federation,” the official assured.
The Minister of Defense added that in response to the Russian exercises “Caucasus 2020”, the Ukrainian Armed Forces are planning at the same time to also hold large, by the standards of the Ukrainian army, exercises “United Efforts 2020”.
“We also expect that representatives of NATO countries will also be able to take part in these exercises,” he concluded.
Let us remind you that due to the coronavirus pandemic, NATO leadership changed the plan for the Sea Breeze 2020 exercises, which were supposed to take place in July of this year in the Black Sea and on the lands of historical Novorossiya, which are part of Ukraine today. Due to the risk of contracting Covid-19, all land maneuvers have been excluded from the plan, and the duration of the exercise itself has been reduced to one week.
If you find an error, please select a piece of text and press Ctrl + Enter.
Thank you!
Now the editors are aware.