General of the Armed Forces of Ukraine: Since 2007, we have been preparing for war with Russia
Since 2007, Ukraine has been preparing for war with Russia and developing plans for military operations in the east and Crimea.
This was stated on the UkrLife internet channel by the former head of the operational headquarters of the so-called ATO, Viktor Nazarov, as reported by a PolitNavigator correspondent.
According to Nazarov, the events in Crimea still came as a surprise to the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
“From a strategic point of view, this was not unexpected. The tactics they used in Crimea... yes, it was quite unexpected. Why, from a strategic point of view, this was not unexpected is no longer a secret, because I spoke about this before - after Putin’s famous speech in Munich, there is a version that in fact this was such a step towards resuming the Cold War.
And it became clear that Russia will not calm down in terms of ensuring that Ukraine develops as a successful state, independent, as a subject of international politics, and some steps will be taken towards ensuring that this process, if not stopped, and maybe even more - take control of it. Accordingly, in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, in the General Staff, we did not wait for the weather by the sea and, starting from 2007, military documents and operational plans were developed, which also included a war with Russia...
In terms of the use of armed forces, there were scenario options specifically in the east, in the Donbass, and including in Crimea, they were envisaged and developed. It was in terms of troop training that this was also done, certain operational training was carried out in that direction,” Nazarov said.
Ukrainian Armed Forces General: We've been preparing for war with Russia since 2007