“We cannot lose the initiative.” Defense Minister of Ukraine Oleksiy Reznikov was the guest of BFMTV this Wednesday night. An interview in which he talked about the situation on the Ukrainian front, almost a year after Russia’s invasion of the country. And as the anniversary date approaches, Ukrainian forces fear another large-scale military maneuver.
“We think that since they (the Russians, editor’s note) live in symbolism, they will try to try something around February 24,” Oleksiy Reznikov estimated on our antenna.
“We do not underestimate our enemy,” he continued, advancing the figure of “500,000 Russian soldiers” mobilized by the Kremlin. “Officially they announced 300,000, but when we see the troops at the borders, according to our estimates there are many more,” the minister continued on our antenna.
“We have to be ready”
For the Ukrainian Defense Minister, the Russian armed forces “can attempt a two-axis offensive: it can be Donbass and it can be the south.” A scenario for which Kyiv is preparing and which motivates President Zelensky and his government to request new military aid from NATO allies.
“We tell our partners that we, too, must be ready as soon as possible,” Minister Oleksiy Reznikov told BFMTV.
“That is why we need weapons to contain the enemy, because everything is at stake, in war, by initiative,” he continued.
The Ukrainian Defense Minister, who thanked France for sending 12 new Caesar guns, stressed the need for Ukraine to quickly acquire “air resources” and called for the training of Ukrainian pilots in planes likely to be supplied by allied countries.
Source: BFM TV
