Reznikov on Ukraine’s preparations for Russian invasion: Authorities were afraid of causing panic
Oleksii Reznikov, Ukraine’s former defence minister, has stated that he has no regrets about the authorities’ public rhetoric in the run-up to Russia’s full-scale invasion. According to him, the statements made to the public differed from Ukraine’s actual preparations for a possible attack.
As reported by Censor.NET, he made these remarks in an interview with Radio Liberty.
Reznikov explained that the authorities could not publicly disclose all preparatory measures due to the risk of causing panic.
"If we had publicly spread panic, all our roads would have been jammed with traffic heading in one direction, and we would not have been able to move our troops," he said.
Ukrainian Armed Forces units were withdrawn from their deployment locations in advance
According to the former minister, on the eve of the invasion, he and the then Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Valerii Zaluzhnyi, signed an order to extend training exercises for Ukrainian military personnel.
"There are things that cannot be discussed even now; some have already been leaked to the media, so I can tell the truth: at that time, I personally signed a ministerial order, taking responsibility alongside General Zaluzhnyi, to continue training for Ukrainian Armed Forces units. In this way, we withdrew all Armed Forces units from their permanent bases. And when the Russians struck at them, the barracks were empty. Instead, the troops were dispersed across the whole of Ukraine. And that is why we managed to preserve the personnel who subsequently put up resistance," the former minister stated.
The General Staff expected a later offensive
Reznikov explained that the Ukrainian General Staff believed Russia had not yet formed the necessary strike groups for a large-scale offensive.
"They say (the General Staff – ed.), according to the Russian military academy, including their own Gerasimov, that they do not launch an offensive without having formed strike groups. The question is: will we see that they have been formed? Yes. How much time do they need, at a minimum? At least enough to complete the formation. At least a month. In other words, even if this invasion were to be prepared, it would have to take place at the end of March. The Russians launched this offensive earlier than they themselves were ready to do so," said Reznikov.
The West also did not expect the invasion to take place on 24 February
According to Reznikov, even Western partners were not certain that Russia would launch a full-scale offensive on 24 February.
As an example, he cited a joint visit to Kramatorsk scheduled for that day with ministers from three NATO countries, who had arrived in Kyiv on 23 February.
"This means they were absolutely certain there would be no invasion on the 24th," he said.
Reznikov’s family remained in Kyiv
The former minister noted that on the eve of 24 February, he did not evacuate his family from Kyiv.
According to him, his wife, children and grandchildren remained in the capital because he believed that Ukraine would be able to hold out.
"My children and my grandchildren were in Kyiv; my wife was in Kyiv on the 24th. If I’d thought the danger was dire, I’d probably have evacuated them. But I didn’t do that because I believed we would stand our ground here and fight to the very end. But I believed that a worst-case scenario, if possible, could be delayed. And we have time to prepare," he said.
