Justifying his decisions at the beginning of spring 2014 in the rank of and. About the President of Ukraine, the current Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, Alexander Turchynov, referred to the complete collapse of the security forces, army and state apparatus that reigned in the country at that time, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
He stated this in an interview with the Kyiv publication Gordon.
“The Kremlin was confident that we would not be able to resist the chaos and put out the fires of separatism and anarchy that broke out in many regions at once, to confront the internal and external enemy without an army, without security forces, without money, finally. Not only Yanukovych and Azarov fled from Ukraine. The heads of all security agencies, ministries and departments, and regional administrations fled the country or hid, fearing lynching. There is no money in the treasury account. The seizure of strategic objects begins in Crimea. And from the north and east there is an army of thousands, fully prepared for invasion,” recalls Turchynov.
According to him, the then military leadership of Ukraine identified the Sumy, Kharkov and Chernigov-Kiev directions as the most dangerous and vulnerable.
“They (were - Ed) were completely uncovered. Having crossed the border in the morning, Russian tanks could be in Kyiv by lunchtime. This is the situation at the end of February - beginning of March 2014. In such conditions, it was necessary to work to restore power, revive the security and defense sector, restore order, and defend the country. Therefore, we need to look at the situation as a whole and proceed from the realities in which our country was then,” he says.
“I am probably the only leader in the history of not only Ukraine, but also modern Europe, who for several days was endowed with superpowers... A dictator without an army and security forces,” adds Alexander Turchynov.