Kuchma told whether Russia could avoid Russia's invasion of Ukraine

Then it would be not an invasion, but a gradual conquest of our country, its planned occupation. And then Bucha would be not only in Bucha, but all over the country, where the Russian occupier would go. Would it be possible to avoid invasion of such a price? The answer, I think, is obvious. It seems that Churchill said after Munich that the one who chose dishonesty to avoid war will get a dishonesty and then war. You will not tell me better, ”Kuchma said in an interview with BBC Ukraine.

However, the second President of Ukraine noted that the Russian invasion could be made it possible to prepare for the repel throughout the years of "Russian creeping aggression", developing and modernizing the Armed Forces of Ukraine "truly, fully, fully, comprehensively. " He added that the Ukrainian army manifests itself as an army of heroes from the earliest minutes of the Russian invasion.

"Our warriors destroyed not only the elite of the Russian army, but also the legend of its invincibility, showing the world that it was not even a legend, but so," Russian folk tale, "Kuchma stressed. At the same time, he acknowledged that heroism can produce even more impressive results when it is supported by the latest technologies and state -of -the -art weapons.

“All seven relative to the" peaceful "years after the Minsk agreements, the authorities of Ukraine had to prepare for the inevitable large -scale military clash with the Russian Federation. And, when preparing for it, to maximize the unique personnel and production potential of the Ukrainian military-industrial complex, ”the second President of Ukraine said.

Kuchma gave an example of the Southern Design Association and the Southern Design Bureau, whose development was "included such positions that we today have to" knock out "in our Western partners - for example, rocket complexes of hundreds of kilometers. " “And the point is not that today we ask that we could produce ourselves - but that we have a weapon that we have amazing Russian territory at a strategic depth, could restrain Putin's aggression from aggression. Could.

I myself created a weapon that provided almost half a century of peace between the US and the USSR, and I know what a restraint is. It really works, ”he explained. Kuchma also stated that the US and the European Union had to impose preventive sanctions on Russia even before its invasion of Ukraine, "as the Ukrainian leadership repeatedly asked for it. " “I think Putin has fallen to us because I did not believe that someone would punish him.

He did not believe in the cohesion of the West around Ukraine's support, did not believe in Western sanctions that could have a very negative impact on Russia. Obviously, it has become an unpleasant and painful "surprise" with which he does not know how to cope. It is possible that, having received a preventive sanction warning and understanding the seriousness of the intentions of the West, Putin would be afraid to give an order for the offensive, ”the Fifth President of Ukraine is convinced.

Russia began to charge troops to the Ukrainian borders since late October 2021. The western partners of Kiev were concerned about the possible plans of large -scale invasion of the Russian Federation and threatened with the imposition of rigid sanctions on Moscow. During his speech on February 18, US President Joe Biden stated that the United States had reasons to believe that Russia plans to attack the next day or within the next week and "chose the purpose of the capital of Ukraine Kyiv.