Ukrainian military command states its forces are ready for Joint Force Operation in the Donbas
In a recent interview with the Facts program, Serhiy Nayev, the Commander of the Joint Forces, stated that Ukrainian forces are ready for joint force operations, Interfax-Ukraine reports. According to Nayev, the forces and capacities of the Ministry of the Internal Affairs of Ukraine, the National Guard, and National Police of the Anti-Terrorist Operation (ATO)—now under the command of the Joint Operation Headquarters of the Armed Forces of Ukraine—are ready to perform tasks as needed.
“All units of the security forces and regional administrations of the Luhansk and Donetsk regions are ready for effective work to restore territories of the Donbas which were affected as a result of the conflict,” Nayev stated.
“The forces have ample opportunities to create a secure environment for this process,” he noted. “We’ve known heads of the regional administrations for a long time, we understand them, and respect each other. I am sure we will work closely because we have a common task: to earn the support of people of the Donbas and facilitate their return to a normal peaceful life.”
The Commander of the Joint Forces stated that “the desire to simplify the entry procedures” at the entry/exit border checkpoints across the boundary line is a workable goal.
“This conditional administrative line is crossed every day by tens of thousands of people who wait hours in queues out in the cold, in the wind, in the heat or in the rain,” Nayev stated. “I hope that there will be a moment when checkpoints will disappear from our landscape at all. I stress: the ultimate goal is the full reintegration of the Donbas, which does not provide any dividing lines.”
On April 30, the conduct of Ukraine’s anti-terrorist operation will be completed in the Donbas and the Joint Force Operation will commence.