Yesterday at 22:15
Ukraine’s defense minister, Oleksiy Reznikov, outlined Ukraine’s position in the most pressing defense and security issues amid Russia’s agression
In an interview on Monday with Livy Bereh outlet, Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense Oleksiy Reznikov, made a number of statements on the escalation on the Ukrainian border, we have gathered the most significant ones:
“There is no need for mobilization in terms of the current threat. If we announce a training mobilization, it will cause panic in the streets. Everyone would consider that we knew something and concealed information that the enemy would attack tomorrow.”
At the same time, 8,500 US troops have been put on heightened alert for a possible deployment to Eastern Europe amid Russian probable invasion.
“In terms of quantity of the soldiers of the armed forces of the Russian Federation, we are talking about a conditional 110,000 ground-to-ground component. Let us add the airborne and marine components, it would amount to 120,000-125,000 soldiers along the entire border of Ukraine, including the administrative border, temporarily occupied Crimea. I repeat once again: the numbers are basically the same as in the spring of 2021.”
The West accuses Ukraine of belittling Russia threat, while official Kyiv insists that the Russian contingent on the Ukrainian border does not differ from the numbers of the previous wave of escalation. Ukraine appreciates the indifferent position of the Western partners, at the same time, it warns against excessive escalation of the situation, which has disastrous consequences for the Ukrainian economy and raises additional alert among citizens.
“At a time when our partners are already expecting a full-scale invasion almost tomorrow, about 400 foreign journalists from the USA, from UK, France, Germany, and other countries have applied for obtaining accreditation to the hostile zone. These are not just war correspondents! Do you think any state would allow its citizens to take such risks if there was a real danger?”
Let us recall, only 4 out of 120 embassies recommended their employees to leave Ukraine, while 400 journalists from different countries are trying to get accreditation to visit Donbas.
“Regarding Germany… I am surprised that the new government has not changed its position regarding providing Ukraine with military-technical assistance. I’m not talking about the humanitarian or the treatment of our military yet… Unfortunately, Germany is strongly dependent on the Russian Federation. It is obvious. Let us remember that their former chancellors are members of Gazprom’s supervisory board; and, perhaps, this is the answer: pragmatism wins over ideals, European, democratic, liberal values.”
A number of countries has provided weapons to Ukraine, and some have expressed their readiness to do so in the event of a full-scale invasion. Germany is a member of the Normandy format, Ukraine’s stable partner, at the same, it refuses from providing any military support. The Bundestag argues this position with Germany’s historical responsibility to Russia, but if Berlin assures about its responsibility, it should be responsible before the Ukrainians, Belarusians and other nations (not only Russians) who fought in ranks of the Red Army.
“Our armed forces that have the highest level of trust among the population. We rank 22nd in the American Global Firepower Index 2022 – higher than the Armed Forces of Poland and Canada (24th and 23rd places, respectively – LB.ua). Our Armed Forces today are the largest land army in Europe.”
Armed Forces of Ukraine reaches 261,000 military personnel, which really makes Ukraine the leader in terms of the number of military personnel. However, the defense budget of Ukraine is significantly lower than the defense budget of the EU and NATO countries. For example, Poland distributes 14.5 billion dollars for defense, while only a billion is allocated in Ukraine. According to the NATO standards, the item of expenditure for weapons modernization and purchase is one third of the total defense budget, while Ukraine’s share reaches only one fifth.
