Ukrainian President warns of threat of full-scale war with Russia
In an interview with three TV channels, Ukrainian President Poroshenko said that Ukraine is under the threat of a full-scale war with Russia. Therefore, the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine (NSDC) decided to impose martial law in border areas for a month. The President said he could substantiate his words with intelligence data, the presidential press service reported.
Poroshenko demonstrated satellite images, which, he said, depicted a Russian military base located near the border with Ukraine. He said that the number of tanks there has tripled in a month. “The number of units that were redeployed along our border, along its full length, has dramatically grown. The possibility of military exercises does not justify this growth in any way,” the Ukrainian president said.
Poroshenko pointed out that the incident in the Kerch Strait area showed a need to ensure protection against possible large-scale ground invasion. “Nobody should view this as a game or toys,” the Ukrainian president said.
Poroshenko spoke about the threat of land invasion the earlier when justifying his decision to impose martial law to the deputies. “The gun hanging on the wall should sooner or later fire. There are airplanes, helicopters, tanks, missile systems, armored personnel carriers, multiple rocket launcher systems there, ” he said, referring to intelligence data.
The decision to impose martial law was made in the night of November 26, after Russia attacked and seized three Ukrainian ships in the Kerch Strait.
Initially, the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine planned to impose martial law in all the regions of Ukraine for 60 days. But after having a long discussion in the Verkhovna Rada, the duration was reduced to 30 days. Martial law was introduced in Vinnytsia, Odessa, Kherson, Mykolaiv, Zaporizhia, Donetsk, Luhansk, Kharkiv, Sumy, and Chernihiv regions – the regions bordering Russia and Transnistria.
The Ukrainian opposition was against the two-month martial law. They pointed out that the decision of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine must not affect the presidential elections, which, according to the law, are going to be held in early 2019.