Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine (NSDC) Oleksandr Turchynov has said he does not rule out that Russia has withdrawn its representatives from the Joint Center for Control and Coordination (JCCC) due to upcoming military operations in Donbas.

"Unilaterally, cynically and groundlessly, Russia has confronted Ukraine and the whole world with a fait accompli by withdrawing its representatives from the JCCC. This can be linked to the escalation at the front. We cannot rule out that they are withdrawing their officers in order to step up not just provocations, but also military operations," he said at an exhibition in memory of Amina Okuyeva in Kyiv on Wednesday.

According to Turchynov, Ukraine's military-political leadership does not exclude political elements behind this step by the Kremlin.

"We also cannot rule out that Putin needs conditional deadly and dirty victories in order to raise his rating, and his PR analysts admit that such victories can be obtained here," he said.

At the same time, according to Turchynov, "there will only be deadly defeats, not victories."