Ukraine warns Russia – “new attack will be very expensive”
Russia is pulling thousands of troops together on the border with Ukraine
Russia and Ukraine have accused each other of worsening the situation on the border. That’s why Vladimir Putin is pulling together thousands of soldiers. WELT correspondent Christoph Vaner reports from Moscow.
As Russia is gathering troops along the border with Ukraine, there are growing concerns about a possible attack. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitro Kuleba has now issued a warning: an attack will result in considerable damage – “so it is better to avoid it.”
DUkraine has warned Russia of considerable political and economic damage as well as loss of human life in the event of an attack on its territory. Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba said in a televised address on Thursday that the Ukrainian government was not trying to guess what was going on in Russian President Vladimir Putin’s head. “We are working to convince him: a new attack on Ukraine will be very costly, so it is better not to do it.”
The government of Ukraine is trying to prevent Russia from further aggression. Russia has concentrated troops along its border with Ukraine. According to the Ukrainian military intelligence service over the weekend, there are more than 92,000 soldiers – Russia is preparing for an attack by the end of January or the beginning of February.
Governments in Kiev, the US and NATO have also expressed concerns that a Russian attack could occur. The Moscow government denies such plans. The US has already delivered weapons to Ukraine, which has drawn criticism in Moscow.
Relations with Ukraine, which wants to join the Western military alliance NATO, are extremely tense. In eastern Ukraine, Ukrainian government soldiers and pro-Russian separatists have been at odds with each other for years.
Russia has repeatedly denied Ukraine’s allegations that it sent troops to eastern Ukraine and supported separatists there. There is a ceasefire in eastern Ukraine, but it is repeatedly violated. The armed conflict dates back to 2014. At that time, Russia occupied the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea and justified it with the fact that the Russian population there had to be protected. Earlier, Ukraine’s pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovich was overthrown during mass protests.
For years France, Germany, Ukraine and Russia have been trying to achieve peace in eastern Ukraine in their talks in the so-called Normandy format. A foreign ministry spokesman in Moscow said Russia had not turned its back on talks about the implementation of the peace deal.
