Ukraine “is not afraid” and “will defend” itself against Russia, said today President Volodymyr Zelensky, whose country has been facing the threat of a possible attack by Russian forces for weeks.
“We are not afraid of any prognosis, we are not afraid of anyone (…) because we will defend ourselves,” said Zelensky from Mariupol, in eastern Ukraine, near the front line with pro-Russian separatists in Donbass.
Earlier, Zelensky attended military exercises and patriotic ceremonies, while Western countries said they did not see Russian forces withdrawing from the border, despite Moscow’s assurances.
The Russian threat “is here, it is real”, the US Secretary of State insisted Anthony Blinken, speaking on the ABC television network. The head of the American diplomacy even assured that he saw “forces that would be on the front line of a possible attack (…) and continue to gather at the border”.
Zelensky, who had declared “Unity Day” on February 16, arrived by helicopter in Rivne this morning to attend military exercises, which also included anti-tank weapons recently delivered by Western countries to Ukraine. “Thank you for defending our state. “When I see you, I feel safe,” he told the military.
The Russian Armed Forces announced today that the exercises were completed and the soldiers left Crimea, releasing a video that shows wagons loaded with military equipment leaving the peninsula at night. A similar announcement was made yesterday, Tuesday. Belarus also promised today that all Russian troops deployed on its territory as part of an exercise would leave when the exercises were completed on February 20.
But the West, from the US and French foreign ministers to the NATO secretary general Jens Stoltenberg, state that they do not see de-escalation. “On the contrary, it seems that Russia continues to strengthen its military presence,” Stoltenberg said at the start of a meeting of the Alliance’s defense ministers in Brussels.
On Tuesday, US President Joe Biden said the withdrawal of Russian forces would be a “positive” development, but would have to be verified, and insisted that “an invasion remains absolutely possible”.
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