HS in Ukraine “War begins on Christmas Eve” – ​​Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maljak calls on the West to join forces

Kiev

Deputy Minister of Defense Hanna Maljak rushes to the meeting room of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense and announces the news at the door: “Our American partners say the war will start on Christmas Eve.”

However, he clarifies that the war from the beginning can’t talk. Eastern Ukraine has been at war with varying intensity for more than seven years.

Now it would be an escalation, according to Maljaki, the probable or possible extension of the war deeper into Ukraine, because part of the country has already been taken over by Russia.

“Russia’s goal is to bring Ukraine under its complete control, that is, not just some part of our region, but completely. In addition, Russia is using escalation, complicating the situation and concentrating its forces as a means of pressure and blackmail. “

Vase says the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense is constantly analyzing the various pieces of information it receives from its partner countries, among others.

“According to our data, Russia will not have time to form an attack force for tomorrow, for example, but it is quite likely in the near future,” Maljak said on Tuesday.

Ukraine the situation has once again come to the forefront of international politics and the threat of war in Europe has become a daily topic of talk in the media, as relations between Russia and the West have escalated towards the end of the year with Ukraine as its intermediary.

Russia has once again concentrated its troops and equipment on Ukraine’s borders. Last week, it issued a series of demands to the United States and the West, including a military alliance to cut NATO’s eastward expansion. On Tuesday, the President of Russia Vladimir Putin threatened the West and Ukraine with “military technical” measures.

Ukraine has lived under threat throughout the conflict in the Donbass region. Last time it was in a similar situation in spring.

“Russia can remedy any political or economic process by exerting and tightening fighting. In this way, it raises the stakes in the negotiations: it threatens someone with a big one to try to negotiate something small, ”says Maljak.

“Ukraine is being held hostage in this situation, and it is terrible. We are constantly being used as a means of blackmailing the West, the European Union and the United States. ”

Ukraine with its armed forces is prepared for the worst. Maljak says that because of the war, all scenarios are possible every day. The armed forces have been reformed according to NATO standards. The defense budget is the largest in 30 years, during Ukraine’s current independence, but according to Maljaki, it is still insufficient.

It is important for Ukraine to receive support from the United States, Britain and the Baltic States, among others, to strengthen its defense sector. A group from the Pentagon, the U.S. Department of Defense, recently visited Ukraine to assess the country’s air defense needs.

International cooperation is daily. Minister of Defense of Ukraine Oleksii Reznikov visited Sweden last week and the Danish Minister of Defense Trine Bramsen In Ukraine. It was agreed to continue co-operation with Denmark.

“We are trying to express to Western countries that this is not just a problem for Ukraine, but for Europe as a whole. It is important to understand and conclude that a policy that avoids annoying Russia does not work. If we do not join forces, we will look weak in front of Russia, both together and separately. ”

The vase is already rushing to the next meeting with the Americans.

Kiev based on a short sample, residents do not want to believe in the Russian invasion. Dentist Mikhail Horužilla already has personal experience of war. He is an evacuation of the war in eastern Ukraine, who fled the city of Donetsk to Kiev.

Horuži sees the escalating situation as a sabotage of sabers that is not expected to go any further because Russia is militarily weaker than NATO and the United States. On the other hand, in the case of Russia, he believes that the “human factor” must not be forgotten.

“Russia’s actions do not always follow any formal logic. The actions are not always rational, and the thoughts are not logical, so in principle you can do anything, ”says Horuži in the office of his clinic in the suburbs of Kiev.

A possible escalation of the war in eastern Ukraine would mean more internally displaced persons, who, according to official statistics, already number about 1.5 million in Ukraine. Their position is not quite easy.

State has hardly provided financial support to its citizens who have been forced to leave their homes and jobs due to the war. Ukrainians have been prejudiced in some places and, for example, have been denied housing. Evacuees in eastern Ukraine have been accused of inciting war on the ground.

Horuži has succeeded in creating a new, good life for his family in Kiev. It has helped when he gave up hope of returning to Donetsk.

“It took a year and a half to understand, and it wasn’t easy, but now I can talk about it lightly.”

Horuži now visits his Ukrainian-controlled part of his homeland once a year to treat the teeth of contract soldiers. Soldiers are serving in the zone of the Ukrainian counter-terrorism operation.

It’s about is a volunteer for which Horuzin was driven by intrinsic motivation. Next time he is traveling to the area for a week in January.

He has noticed how people are used to war on the one hand, and tired of nothing changing on the other. The “checkpoint” has become part of everyday vocabulary, as have many other war terms.

Read more: Seven years of warfare have defeated the inhabitants on the front line: “We no longer live, we exist”

Patriotic sentiments among soldiers between 2014 and 2015 have leveled off, according to Horuz’s observations. Then the area was defended more with emotion, now with an employment contract.

In Kiev Horuži runs a dental clinic. Every other summer there is a fishing trip to Finland for a group of Ukrainian-Israeli friends. A group of ten people rents a cottage by the lake for a week and organizes a fishing competition with each other.

Horuži presents the trophy on the shelf of his office, which he won for the first time last summer after mocking the biggest catch: a 5.5-pound pike.

A resident of a million city has liked Finland.

“It’s so quiet, peaceful, and no one’s in a hurry.”

How worried are you about Russia’s possible attack on Ukraine?

Natalia Dlivanskaya

“The theme is very much featured in the media, but I don’t know how much of a truth it has. I don’t believe in an attack. It is just a show of strength between Russia and the United States. Ukraine is the scene here, and that’s it. ”

Jana Savchenko

“I don’t think there will be any attack. The wolves just howl again. Let it boil a little so that everyone is startled and the economy suffers a little. ”

Mikhail Tarasenko

“I don’t think Russia is attacking. It’s a war for our politicians in general, so it’s not up to us. We go where the wind carries. You have a certain civilized mentality in your country, but it has been sold to us a long time ago. At the time of Maidan, there was still interest in things, but now everything has been sold. ”

Vitalina Fedorova

“It worries me from the bottom of my heart, I just have a tear in my eye. We want peace on earth. That should be achieved. ”