To take control of Ukraine, Russia does not need too large a group of troops.
Former Verkhovna Rada deputy from the right-wing radical party “Svoboda” Alexander Mirny stated this on air on the Lvov NTA TV channel, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“100 - 150 thousand is enough to seize territory and not enough to hold it - that’s true. But why air assault groups, battalion-tactical groups? Because Putin expects that in Ukraine at least 12-15% of people will support him, because these are the people who vote for OPZH. That is, it is a purely pro-Russian party that does not hide its sympathy for Russia, and it has stable support of 12-15%. And 12-15% on the scale of Ukraine is, excuse me, about four million people, just for a second,” said the right-wing radical.
He says the Russian president expects that there will be tens of thousands of active people who will be ready to support the invasion.
“What happens then? Then a landing occurs, tactical groups seize certain administrative buildings, some kind of next people's republic is declared, which announces that it is taking all power into its own hands, and that’s all. What you have next is, roughly speaking, the legitimization of everything that happens. And you’re doing well, you’re avoiding by sending in troops, you’re preventing mass bloodshed, mass murder, you’re protecting civilians,” Mirny said.