Kyiv: Ukraine is not planning an offensive in Donbas
The Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Colonel-General Ruslan Khomchak, said that Russia tries to intimidate Ukraine with use of its military force, thereby artificially exacerbating the situation in order to achieve its own geostrategic goals.
According to him, Russia is conducting a disinformation campaign, claiming that Ukraine is preparing an offensive on the Donbas. The purpose of this campaign, Khomchak says, is to discredit Ukraine in the international arena, to stir panic among the population of the territories not controlled by Ukraine to further advance the Kremlin's geostrategic interests.
"Using intimidation and threats of using its military force, the Russian Federation artificially aggravates the situation to achieve its own geostrategic goals. The build-up its troops along the state border and in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine is used by the Kremlin as an additional tool of pressure," Khomchak said.
At the same time, the Commander-in-Chief stressed that Ukraine will not resort to the liberation of the occupied territories, but the Ukrainian Armed Forces are ready to fight back against the aggressor both in case of escalation of the conflict in the Donbas, and in case of escalation of the military-political and military-strategic situation around Ukraine.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Ukraine's membership in NATO poses a threat of a "massive escalation" in the Donbas.