Ukraine Says They See No Sign Of Russia Withdrawing From Border
By Donald Standeford, Correspondent - Follow -
Date Published: December 15th, 2021 05:35PM UTC
Last Modified: December 15th, 2021 05:35PM UTC
KYIV - Despite rumors that Russia has begun withdrawing its troops from the border, Ukraine says that there is no such sign. In fact, according to Ukraine there has been an increase in the number of troops stationed near the Ukrainian border.
Oleksiy Danilov, Secretary of the Ukrainian Security and Defense Council told Reuters that Ukraine is still worried about the military build-up on their border and that there has been no big change since the video call between Biden and Putin.
"Nothing has changed" he said. "There has been some (increase) but not critical enough for us to say: this is it, it (an invasion on Ukraine) is going to happen now".
Danilov said that Russia would need at least 500,000 to 600,000 troops near the border "in order to keep the situation under control in the event of an offensive".
He said that Russia has the capability of increasing troop numbers very quickly and on a moments notice but that Russia would need over 24 hours to bring in enough soldiers to carry out an invasion on Ukraine.
Danilov stated that Ukraine has no intention of escalating tensions by taking control of eastern Ukraine where Russian separatists have been fighting Ukrainian forces.
"We will not take orders from anyone, we will not tolerate any tsar, we are a different kind of people" he said. "Is compromise possible? Yes, it is possible, but not at the expense of our independence and our country".
