Chief of General Staff of Ukraine: Russia is planning to intensify military action in the Donbas
Viktor Muzhenko, Chief of the General Staff and Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, fears that Russia will intensify military action in the Donbas.
“No jokes. The developments of the last two weeks demonstrate that Russia is preparing to start intensifying military action in the Donbas,” he wrote on Twitter.
Muzhenko also wrote on Facebook: “No jokes. Putin’s next manic threatening of Ukraine is taking place, as voiced at the “Arctic: Territory of Dialogue” forum. I believe that a global catastrophe in the world can only be organized by Russia. If not for the West, Russia would have created it already”.
Everything seems to indicate that Muzhenko was referring to Putin’s statement about a global conflict, if the West tries to “restrain Russia”.
“Now as far as Ukraine is concerned, in the United States… there is an opinion, we know this for sure, that the worse the relations between Russia and Ukraine are, the better it is for them, because this weakens Russia, and prevents integration processes which could strengthen Russia, in the economic sphere as well. Let Russia mess about with its border issues with its neighbors, rather than interfere in international matters, such as Syria, the Middle East, and others. And they say that this benefits them. This is a mistake. This doesn’t benefit anyone. Because if you try by some means, especially some more dangerous means, such as regional conflicts, to restrain someone, this could lead to global catastrophes, to global conflicts,” Putin said.
On March 29 in Minsk, during the session of the Trilateral Contact Group for the peaceful resolution of the situation in the Donbas, an agreement was reached to cease fire in the Donbas from April 1 and to withdraw the forces at the city of Luhansk from April 6. President Petro Poroshenko instructed the Ukrainian forces to cease fire from April 1.