Head of Ukrainian General Staff sees offensive potential in Russian divisions deployed on Ukrainian borders
Three motorized rifle divisions that Russia has deployed near the Ukrainian borders are not intended for defense, these units clearly have offensive purposes, Viktor Muzhenko, the head of the Ukrainian General Staff and the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, has said.
"The organizational and staff structure, the weapons and military hardware that are being supplied to them indicate that these Russian divisions are essentially strike ones and are intended for offensive actions. Even their staff name contains the concept 'strike,' which makes them different from the other divisions and emphasizes their special purpose," Muzhenko said at a joint session of the Military-Scientific Council of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and the Ukrainian National Academy of Sciences.
Even the honored names of these units are aimed at exerting psychological pressure, he said. Specifically, the 144th Vinnytsia rifle division, which is now stationed in Smolensk, stormed Vinnytsia in August 1944. The 150th motorized rifle division, which is located in Novocherkassk, is called Idritsk-Berlin and it once participated in combat actions in the territory of Poland and in the storm of Berlin.
"Giving newly created divisions such names, the Russian federation tries to exert moral and psychological pressure, both on Ukraine and on the European community, and it also demonstrates its far-reaching intentions," Muzhenko said.
Muzhenko earlier said there are over 30,000 Russian military in the territories of Donetsk and Luhansk regions uncontrolled by Kyiv and in Crimea. He said there is still a big threat of Russia starting large-scale military action.
The Russian political and military leadership have repeatedly denied the presence of Russian troops in the territory of Ukraine.