Ukraine’s top diplomat’s comments contradict claims of an impending Russian offensive
Amid swirling allegations from Western leaders and media outlets that Moscow’s armed forces are beefing up their presence at the frontier with Ukraine ahead of launching an incursion, Kiev’s foreign minister has said that country does not see signs that a war could start at any minute.
Speaking to reporters in the Ukrainian capital on Wednesday, Dmitry Kuleba weighed in on tensions along the demarcation line. “The number of Russian troops amassed along the border of Ukraine and occupied territories of Ukraine is large, it poses a threat to Ukraine – a direct threat to Ukraine,” he argued.
According to the official, however, “at the moment, as we speak, this number is insufficient for a full-scale offensive against Ukraine along the entire Ukrainian border. They also lack some important military indicators and systems to conduct such a large full-scale offensive.”
“We can say 100 times a day invasion is imminent, but this doesn’t change the situation on the ground,” he remarked.
Kuleba’s remarks come shortly after the secretary of Kiev’s National Security Council, Alexey Danilov, sought to squash fears of the purported threat of a Russian invasion, describing it as “panic” whipped up for “geopolitical and domestic” reasons in the West. “The buildup of Russian troops isn’t as rapid as some claim,” he said.
Ukrainian and Western officials have sounded the alarm several times in recent months of an imminent offensive, and have pointed to Moscow’s troop movements near its border with Ukraine, where they estimate 100,000 Russian soldiers are stationed.
There have been a flurry of reports in English-language outlets in recent weeks, which have been rejected by Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov as “groundless” and “hysteria.” He has previously insisted that the movement of Moscow’s armed forces on its own territory is an internal matter and of no concern to anyone else, and that Russia “poses no threat to anyone.”
The latest claims that Moscow is planning an incursion into Ukraine come after similar alarms were raised last April.
