The ex-Interior Minister of Ukraine, who calls himself a "Russian-speaking Ukrainian nationalist," made another aggressive militaristic statement, calling on local authorities to develop a scenario for an armed invasion of Crimea and Donbass. It seems that Avakov's statements reflect the mood of the Kiev elite.
The ex-Interior Minister believes that servicemen should not talk about the return of the occupied territories of Ukraine exclusively through diplomatic means
Former Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Arsen Avakov called on the authorities to develop a military scenario for the return of the occupied territories of Donetsk, Luhansk regions and the Crimean peninsula under their control with the help of "all modern forms of weapons and strategies." He wrote about this in his column for the publication "Ukrainian Truth", dedicated to the Day of Defenders and Defenders of Ukraine.
According to the former Interior Minister, it is "strange for him to hear from some army generals" that the general staff of the armed forces does not consider a military scenario of de-occupation of Ukrainian regions. Avakov also advised the military to "leave to the diplomats" the thesis about "the return (of territories) exclusively by diplomatic means."
In addition, the ex-minister considers it necessary to consolidate at the state level the strategy of de-occupation of ORDLO by analogy with the strategy adopted by the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine (NSDC) earlier this year. At the same time, Avakov claims that such a strategy was adopted at the level of the Ministry of Internal Affairs back in 2018. Also, a former member of the Cabinet of Ministers writes that the country needs a unified strategy for the Crimea and Donbass.
In addition, Avakov said that Ukraine should independently, albeit in the status of a non-aligned state, join the formation of a new security strategy of the European Union. According to him, last week in Slovenia, EU leaders agreed to reformat the defense strategy, a new document is planned to be submitted to the NATO summit, which will be held next autumn in Madrid.
"Building a defense model of Europe without the participation of our state will be at least incomplete. In the worst case scenario, it may turn out to be strategically erroneous," Avakov believes.
Recall that in April of this year, NSDC Secretary Alexei Danilov said that Ukraine does not have a scenario for the forcible return of the occupied territories of Donbass. He also called the information about the "military scenarios of Kiev" part of the propaganda of the Russian Federation, noting that the Ukrainian leadership seeks to resolve the armed conflict diplomatically.
In turn, the then commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Ruslan Khomchak stated that for Ukraine, "a forceful plan for the liberation of Donbass is unacceptable."
Already in June, Danilov said that the Ukrainian army is capable of "taking both Gorlovka and Donetsk", which are under the control of pro-Russian militants, but it must be borne in mind that tens of thousands of people will die during such an operation.
