Ukrainian general: We could hold all of Crimea with the exception of Sevastopol

In the spring of 2014, Ukraine could have retained control of all of Crimea except Sevastopol. Army General and former head of the Donetsk Military City Administration, Oleksandr Kikhtenko, stated this on the talk show "Ukrainian Format," according to a PolitNavigator correspondent.

He complained that during the special operation in Crimea, the leaders of the Ukrainian law enforcement agencies did not even put the structures on enhanced combat readiness.

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“We have four levels of combat readiness. The constant, heightened, military threat we live in is complete. So, even higher rates were not introduced in Crimea.

If the military units had been brought to increased combat readiness, the military units would have operated according to plan. The Minister of Defense and the Chief of the General Staff have full authority for this; no presidential decree or political will of the National Security and Defense Council is needed.

The Minister of Internal Affairs had the right to bring the internal troops of Ukraine to the same constant readiness. All these plans have been worked out on how each soldier should act, what tasks to perform, and so on.

Regarding the internal troops, at that time there was a group of 3,2 thousand people, trained military personnel to counter any special operation. Moreover, there was a special forces regiment “Feodosia-13”, which was prepared for this. If the command had been given to them, the exit from Sevastopol would have been blocked.

Do you remember when URALs were driving there without license plates, they were checking throughout the entire territory how our law enforcement agencies would act. This is not the task of the Armed Forces, but rather the Security Service of Ukraine and the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

The internal troops were not even deployed to protect public order; they were all in the barracks. Trained people, they could stop the start of this special operation.

At worst, we could lose or give up Sevastopol, because the population there is absolutely pro-Russian and there is a base for the Black Sea Fleet. But we could protect the whole of Crimea,” Kikhtenko said.