Russia will not go for an open full-scale invasion of Ukraine. This opinion was expressed by Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for the Temporarily Occupied Territories Oleksii Reznikov in an interview with Obozrevatel.
According to him, Russia is not ready for a full-scale invasion, and the AFU are ready to repulse the aggressor.
"Firstly, they are not economically ready, and secondly, our Ukrainian army as of today is worlds apart as it was before 2014. This is a renewed army that has been reborn from scratch, with very serious ideological and patriotic sentiments. Let us not forget that half a million soldiers have gotten through the war since 2014, they have real military experience now. They know how gunpowder smells, what blood is and the loss of a comrade on the battlefield. This is 500 thousand of Ukraine's mobilization potential. Plus officially - 250 thousand composition of the AFU and another 50 thousand fighters of the National Guard. Not to mention about other patriotic Ukrainians. How much is the entire army of Russia? One and a half million. But they have more than 100 million population, plus their own large territory. They cannot bring them all to the border with Ukraine in order to openly start a war and invade our territory under their own flags", - he said.
According to Reznikov, the Russian side officially confirms that the occupied territory of Donbas is Ukraine and they do not interfere in our internal affairs.
"Therefore, an open invasion of the territory of Ukraine will mean the official start of an open war. And then, no matter how an intelligent and tolerant Europe wants to treat the Russians, it will not only have to toughen sanctions, but take serious decisions", - Reznikov believes.