Ukrainian Military: Russia does not have enough troops on the border to launch offensive
Ukrainian Military intelligence has not observed any powerful offensive groups in the Russian Federation that would be able to operate effectively in the hinterland of Ukraine, the head of the press service of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Vladislav Seleznev, told Radio Liberty.
According to him, the enemy only has a tactical force whose task is to intimidate the Ukrainian military. "In fact, today we do not expect an eastern offensive from the Russian federation. However, that’s no reason to be complacent. Russian-terrorist forces keep shelling not only the positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, but the settlements located along the frontline as well,” Seleznev said.
According to Seleznev the Ukrainian Army counteracts the thirty thousand separatists in the Donbas region, which are led by Russian military personnel. "If we're talking about the Donbas, there are about 30,000 men in the first and second army corps of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. All leadership positions from the corps commander downwards are filled by Russian military personnel."
He has deduced that the last movement of the military equipment within the Peninsula is directly related to the training of Russian military personnel and preparation for “North Caucasus 2016”—the large-scale military exercise scheduled for September this year.
On the 10th of August, 2016 the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (FSB) talked about the prevention of attacks in the Crimea, which were allegedly prepared by Ukrainian Intelligence. The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine called this statement a provocation.