Ukraine sees no reduction in Russian forces around its borders, Defense Minister says
Ukraine is not witnessing the withdrawal of Russian forces from positions near the Ukrainian border, its Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said on Monday.
“We are looking at the Russian units, which today number 127,000 people in the ground component, and with the naval and aviation component 147,000 people,” Reznikov said Monday.
“We don’t see a withdrawal and we’re not talking regarding reducing the number, because the units can quickly return to their previous locations or transfer to another area.”
The Ukrainian Defense Ministry gave very similar figures last week.
His update comes as new satellite imagery collected by Maxar on Sunday shows heightened activity among Russian units near Ukraine’s northeastern border, with units that were in garrison appearing to take up field positions.
“This new activity represents a change in the pattern of previously observed battle group deployments (tanks, armored personnel carriers, artillery, and support equipment),” Maxar observed.
“Until recently, most deployments have been primarily positioned at or near existing military garrisons and training areas,” he said.
Reznikov added Monday: “We don’t underestimate the threat in any case, it’s really high.”
The minister also touched on the possibility that Russia might recognize the self-proclaimed republics in eastern Ukraine as independent.
“If they recognize these terrorist groups, calling themselves republics, tomorrow or the day following tomorrow, they will directly violate the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine,” he said.
“It will mean that in fact this is a pretext for a possible invasion through the introduction of some peacekeepers or something, as they will call it.”
Last week, Russian lawmakers appealed to Russian President Vladimir Putin to recognize the breakaway Donbas republics as independent.
The Kremlin said following the vote that it had no plans to recognize the two regions, stating: “Nobody remains indifferent to the fate of Donbas. But still, Russia has repeatedly stated that it remains committed to the Minsk package of measures, and that Russia is in favor of the implementation of the entire Minsk plan as soon as possible, in the sequence that exists.”
