Ukraine sees no signs of an imminent Russian invasion this week, the secretary of the country’s National Security and Defense Council, Oleksiy Danilov, said on Monday.
“We are fully aware of what is happening in our country, we are aware of the risks that exist for our country, but the situation is completely under control and, what is more, we do not currently see that a large-scale invasion of the Russian Federation on the 16th or 17th. We don’t see it,” he told the media after a meeting with the leadership of the Verkhovna Rada (parliament).
Danílov thus responded to the warnings that the government of US President Joe Biden would have transmitted to his partners and allies last week about a possible Russian invasion of Ukraine at this time, according to the Politico newspaper.
The secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine added that the threat from Russia is constant, but emphasized that the Army, the security forces and bodies, and the defense apparatus “are ready for any challenge we have.”
Already on Saturday the Ukrainian president, Volodímir Zelenski, assured that “everything is under control” and asked not to sow panic.
“If you or others have additional information about a 100% (safe) invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation, please provide me with that information,” he said at an appearance in the southern Kherson region of the country, where he oversaw the exercises. Ukrainian military.
Russia has 100,000 soldiers deployed on the border with Ukraine and is carrying out military exercises in the Black Sea and in Belarus, a few kilometers from Kiev, which makes the West fear that there could be an attack on the neighboring country at any moment.
The US warnings have caused aircraft insurers to warn Ukrainian airlines on Saturday that they will no longer cover aircraft flying over the airspace.
The Ukrainian government had to ensure that the airspace will remain open and adopt financial guarantees worth almost 600 million dollars to calm the insurance and leasing companies.
Danílov reiterated today that “we are not closing our sky and we are not going to do it. There are no reasons for it,” he stressed.
The Dutch KLM reported on Saturday that it “stops flying to Ukraine”, after “an exhaustive security analysis”, and the airlines of the Lufthansa group maintain, for the moment, flights to their destinations in Ukraine, Kiev, Lviv and Odessa , although they observe the situation very closely.
The airline industry still remembers very well the tragedy that occurred in 2014 when Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, with 298 people on board, was shot down in eastern Ukraine by a Russian Buk missile fired from pro-Russian separatist territory, according to the evidence presented. in the trial held in the Netherlands.
Meanwhile, Russia estimated on Monday that there is a “possibility” of resolving the Ukrainian crisis thanks to dialogue with Western countries and announced the end of some military maneuvers, in the midst of a crisis unprecedented since the Cold War.
And with fears of an invasion of Ukraine rising, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz urged Russia to take advantage of “dialogue offers” to defuse a crisis that has raised the specter of war in Europe. This Monday, Scholz is visiting Kiev and on Tuesday he is scheduled to travel to Moscow to meet with Vladimir Putin.
Taking distance from the offensive statements of recent days, the head of Russian diplomacy, Sergey Lavrov, considered on Monday that “there is a possibility” of “solving the problems”.
The path of dialogue “has not been exhausted, but neither can it last indefinitely,” Lavrov added, stressing that Russia is ready to “listen to serious counterproposals.”
In another sign of de-escalation, shortly afterwards Sergey Shoigu, the Russian defense minister, stated that the military exercises taking place alongside Belarus were “ending”.
“Some exercises are going on, one part has finished, another part is finishing. And others continue to be given [su] wingspan,” Shoigu stated.
In addition, Ukraine formally asked Moscow to explain the deployment of soldiers on its borders, in accordance with the commitments made by Russia within the framework of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which plans to hold a meeting on Tuesday.
The United States has been stressing for days that the Russian army could invade Ukraine “at any time” and many countries have urged their citizens to leave Ukrainian territory.
In this sense, Zelensky called the fact that some countries, such as the United States, have decided to move their embassies out of Kiev a “big mistake”.
But, despite the tensions, which were heightened last week with the start of military maneuvers by Russia and Belarus, Kiev said on Monday that the negotiations with Minsk were being “positive”.
In a telephone conversation on Sunday night, US President Joe Biden and Volodimir Zelensky “agreed on the importance of continuing down the path of diplomacy and deterrence.” (I)
Source: Eluniverso
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