Ukrainian Ambassador to Germany: Ukraine will consider restoring its nuclear status if not accepted in NATO
If Ukraine is not accepted into NATO, it may consider restoring its nuclear status to defend against Russia, said Ukrainian Ambassador to Germany Andriy Melnyk on Deutschlandfunk radio.
According to him, to date, about 90,000 Russian military personnel have been transferred to the borders of Ukraine, the annexed Crimea and territories of the Donbas which are not under Kyiv’s control. The intelligence information indicates that their number will increase to 110,000.
The Ambassador drew attention to the fact that these are the most massive movements of troops in Russia since the Second World War, which show that Russian is seriously preparing to attack Ukraine.
Melnyk stressed that now Ukraine especially needs military support, rather than “beautiful words”.
"Either we are part of an alliance like NATO, and we are helping to make Europe stronger so that Europe becomes more confident, or we have only one option - to arm ourselves, perhaps to think again about nuclear status. How else can we guarantee our security?" the ambassador stressed.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that the United States should do more to hep Ukraine join NATO.
The Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Ruslan Khomchak, during his speech in the Parliament, reported that Russia is amassing troops along Ukrainian borders.
The Ukrainian Defense Ministry's Intelligence Directorate said that Russia is ready for large-scale provocations, in particular, to attack deep into the territory of Ukraine.
Last week, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the U.S. Army, General Mark Milley, General Mark Milley, held talks with Valery Gerasimov, Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces.
"We have made it clear that we see threats from Russia and take them very, very seriously," Pentagon spokesman John Kirby later said.
He added that Washington would like Moscow to be "more open" about the troop movements. "While we have learned from the bitter experience to not take at face value the Russians' statements about their intentions," Kirby said.
NATO troops in the next few months will hold exercises in Ukraine, the scenario of which will be "to repel a large-scale offensive of the armed forces of the hypothetical aggressor country," the Ukrainian General Staff said.
"The defensive actions will transition to subsequent offensive to restore the state border and territorial integrity amid the aggression by the neighboring state," the Ukrainian General Staff said.