Ukraine’s General Staff spokesman Vladislav Seleznyov today sought to downplay concerns about the situation on the border with the Crimean Peninsula, insisting that the Ukrainian military has all the resources and power necessary to defend itself from any situation that might unfold.
Ukraine has been building up its military along the Crimean border in the past few days, after Russia reported a weekend incident in which people from the Ukrainian side, who they identified as government spies, attempted to infiltrate the peninsula, killing a Russian soldier and an FSB member.
Seleznyov has claimed Russia invented the claims as part of some plot to take aggressive action against Ukrainian territory, but insisted that the military could “adequately respond to any aggressive action” with the present level of preparedness.
As tensions continue to rise, these comments should at the very least calm some of the bellicosity from NATO member nations about the Russian frontier, as Ukrainian officials insist they believe they can handle the situation themselves, and don’t need NATO gearing up for World War 3 over the Crimean Peninsula.
What a joke. Ukraine was routed in their effort to take a few provinces in eastern Ukraine. Putin will give them the same lesson he gave Georgia if they set one toe in Crimea.
Exactly. Love it when a country says we can defend ourselves against a nuclear armed super power, yet they cant prevent their own country from being broken up. LOL!! NATO will not got to war over Ukraine. Let’s move on.
BINGO!!! You just nailed that one perfectly. I, too, love it when a country (Ukraine) says we can defend ourselves against a nuclear-armed superpower; yet, they’re totally unable to prevent their own country from being broken up. What a joke that is :-D. NATO’s not going to go to war over Ukraine; they’re not that stupid.
Indeed, if Russia were to invade Ukraine, she wouldn’t do so from Crimea; she’d do so from her western border with Ukraine, and the Donbass provinces would join their forces with those of Russia, marching all the way to Kiev .. and, within 72 hours, it would be Game Over. Any and all NATO forces would’ve run away from Ukraine with their tails between their legs well before the Russians arrived.
A Clinton administration will no doubt exploit the situation and create an extremely dangerous confrontation with Russia.
If Russia were to invade Ukraine, she would not attack from Crimea. These guys are dumb.
The Crimes is a diversion – or the ‘provocation’ Kyiv needs as an excuse to have another ‘toss’ at the east.
yup but that toss will be responded with a S. Ossetia like reaction from the Russians.
“…don’t need NATO gearing up for World War 3 over the Crimean Peninsula.”
Since Ukraine is not a member, NATO shouldn’t be “gearing up” anyway. Not their pudding.
Too bloody right! And hopefully it’ll never become a member because I hope it fairly soon NATO will follow the Warsaw Pact down the plughole of history.
Sounds like a plan.
I assume that Spokesman Seleznyov made his remarks after a long working meeting topped with a vodka tasting session (that continued well on into early evening).
Spokesman Seleznyov broadly hinted that there exists Ukrainian war plans to capture Moscow within days of any start of hostilities; secret plans codenamed “Operation Piyuck”.
Is that the one where everybody dresses-up like Taras Bulba and gets drunk in a Polish hotel?
Yule Brenner Taras Bulba??
Other commenters here seem to be supporters of Russia. I think that it would be unwise to discount Ukraine’s military strength at this time. When Ukraine was pushed back by Russian regulars, Ukraine military were not the same force that we see today. Ukraine has had over 2 years to beef up with more people, way more high tech equipment, and some serious training. It would be a big mistake for Russia to underestimate the motivation and preparedness of Ukraine’s military now. The number of military personnel that Ukraine now has, is more than Russia could commit to a full-out conflict. Other countries have been supplying Ukraine soldiers with training and high tech weaponry, and Ukraine has ramped up its military manufacturing, much of it high tech.
To do what they need to do they’re going to have to get out of their fortifications and hit the open road again. They had better be an awful lot better. And if they are successful, they could be facing first-rate forces instead of volunteers.
Russia would destroy their air bases, military depots, naval yards and front line battalions within 1 hour. You see what is happening in Syria with Russian strikes. Now magnify that by 100. There will be nothing left of Ukraines armed forces.
the Kyiv cabal is going to be ‘responding’ again, any day now. Another – the fourth – ‘tooth-breaking offensive’, to ‘chastise’ the ‘russians’ who live in eastern Ukraine.
Hah! If Russia decides it’s had enough, it will take Kiev in 72 hours… Regardless of whatever buildup Ukraine has done over the last two years, there’s no way they can withstand the far better equipped and trained – and most importantly, LED – Russian forces. Ukraine’s military leaders have established over and over that they’re completely incompetent. And all they have are badly trained conscripts who don’t want to be there. The only motivated troops are the neo-Nazi battalions. No one else wants to die for the Poroshenko regime.
I know Putin doesn’t want to, but frankly, it’s something he should give serious thought to: Drop the Poroshenko government, arrest the oligarchs, wipe out the neo-Nazi battalions, put a puppet pro-Russian government in place and go home. Let the geopolitical results be as they may, at least Ukraine would be quiet – for a while anyway. Once the US CIA was kicked out, the US would have zero leverage in that country.
There’s no way the US or NATO could respond fast enough to do anything about it – not in 72 hours – without risking full-scale nuclear war.