The Armed Forces of Ukraine were ready to go to Crimea - Ukrainian general
Since December 2013, a five-thousand-strong group of troops was prepared in Ukraine, which could be quickly deployed to Crimea.
Former Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksandr Kuzmuk stated this on air on TV channel 112, reports a PolitNavigator correspondent.
According to the former official, the Ukrainian government did not want to use these troops in Crimea, and then blamed everything on their predecessors.
“Since December, five airborne brigades with a strength of five thousand people have been trained for operations in Crimea. One brigade, the 25th, entered Crimea, conducted exercises and left. It’s just that the Minister of Defense Tenyukh, who was appointed, confused that the five thousand were prepared for instant transfer to Crimea, and not in the armed forces. This was picked up, it was beneficial - the failures of the initial period of the war were attributed to the unpreparedness of the army.
The army was ready, there were enough forces in Crimea, five thousand for reinforcement was enough to block five possible passages, directions, and close the passages to Crimea. And that was enough. And nothing prevented anything from preparing another forty thousand in a short time and transferring them to the eastern borders of Ukraine. This was not done, and then mythology began,” Kuzmuk said.
The Ukrainian Armed Forces were ready to march on Crimea – Ukrainian general