The head of the NSDC of Ukraine Danilov does not consider the invasion of Russia inevitable | News from Germany about Ukraine

The head of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine (NSDC) Aleksey Danilov considers the threat of an imminent Russian invasion of his country at the moment unlikely. The government in Kiev has not yet recorded a critical build-up of Russian troops on the joint border, he said in an interview with AFP, released Saturday, December 25.

According to Danilov, Russia has increased the number of troops on the border with Ukraine since October from 93 to 104 thousand troops. “We do not see this as a critical build-up of forces,” he said, noting that for Ukraine “the threat exists every day, regardless of how many soldiers Moscow sends to the border.” At the same time, Danilov warned that in the event of an invasion, Ukraine would be protected by the entire Ukrainian society.

Danilov: “Russia wants to destroy our country”

The head of the NSDC expressed the opinion that Russian President Vladimir Putin is trying to destroy Ukraine and recreate the USSR. Currently, the Kremlin, he said, seeks to destabilize Ukraine from the inside through cyberattacks and an energy crisis.

Adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy believes that if this plan fails, Russia will resort to other measures, including military ones. “They want to destroy our country so that it ceases to exist within its current borders,” he stressed.

Russian-Ukrainian conflict

The conflict between Russia and Ukraine has been escalating for weeks. Since mid-November, Kiev and the governments of Western countries have accused Russia of transferring tens of thousands of troops to the border with Ukraine. Moscow denies plans to invade Ukraine and, for its part, accuses the West of arming the country and conducting maneuvers near Russian borders.

Since 2014, a war has been going on in eastern Ukraine between pro-Russian separatists and the Ukrainian army. Ukraine and the West accuse Moscow of providing military aid to the separatists. The Kremlin denies this.

Alexey Danilov is a former mayor of the city of Luhansk, which is located in the territory of Donbass, controlled by separatists.

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Author: Eugene Teise