Russia's unlikely to invade Ukraine, but we need to be ready for this – expert
A full-scale Russian invasion into Ukraine is unlikely, but the country's military-political leadership needs to prepare for the worst-case scenario, Andriy Senchenko, chairman of the National Association of Defense Industry Enterprises of Ukraine, has said.
"Each war is a constant comparison every day of its own losses and expenses with the losses and expenses of the enemy. From this point of view, to start a full-scale invasion of our territory today is madness for the Russian Federation, because they understand that they will suffer very significant losses, with which the Russians will disagree. On the other hand, there will be very serious systemic pressure, which, unfortunately, did not exist in 2014 from our Western partners, the civilized world," Senchenko said during the roundtable talk entitled "Aggression of the Russian Federation: Is the Army Ready for New Challenges?" in Kyiv on Thursday.
In his opinion, by aggravating the situation in eastern Ukraine, the Russian Federation is trying to "swing the Ukrainian authorities, frighten the Ukrainian people and resolve internal political issues of the Russian Federation in connection with the approaching elections to the State Duma and other processes."
"But this is not a reason for us to calm down. Therefore, when I assess the likelihood, I believe that all the same, all the military, military-political leadership of the country, starting with the president and further down the vertical, should prepare for the worst possible scenario. Just like that and in no other way," Senchenko stressed.
At the same time, he noted that it is necessary to return to the Budapest format of negotiations at the highest political level and move on to granting loans to Ukraine or the right to buy foreign weapons for Ukrainian money.
"We actually have the right to a completely different level of military-technical assistance and to direct financial investments in strengthening the Ukrainian army, which protects not only our country, but the entire eastern flank of NATO," Senchenko said.
