Ukrainian President Warns Of “Full-Scale War With Russia” In Televised Interview
by Tyler Durden
ZeroHedge.com
Tue, 11/27/2018
President Petro Poroshenko said during a Tuesday Ukrainian television interview that the threat of “full-scale war” with Russia could be imminent as tensions rise following the Russia-Ukraine incident near the Kerch Strait on Sunday.
Poroshenko condemned what he described as a rapidly increased Russian military presence on the border with Ukraine, saying, “The number of [Russian] tanks at bases located along our border has tripled,” according to the AFP.
The Ukrainian president added that “the number of units that have been deployed along our border – what’s more, along its full length – has grown dramatically.” He ultimately concluded that the military buildup meant that the country is “under threat of full-scale war with Russia.”
While Poroshenko didn’t cite specific Russian troop numbers he claimed that intelligence reports pointed to Moscow tripling its forces along the border since the annexation of Crimea in 2014. Referencing media reports about planned Russian military exercises, he argued that “talks about possible drills do not justify these increases.”
“I don’t want anyone to think this is fun and games,” he added. Despite his sarcasm, it’s doubtful that anyone sees the dramatically escalating events in the Black Sea as anything less than intensely dangerous and carrying the potential for outbreak of war.
On Tuesday Britain announced it is dispatching the HMS Echo, a UK Royal Navy survey vessel and monitoring ship to the Black Sea, following Britain’s leaders condemning what it described as Russian aggressive actions in seizing Ukrainian ships and their crew off the coast of Crimea, which the Russian Navy described as “maneuvering dangerously”. A Ministry of Defence statement said the reconnaissance ship would “demonstrate the UK’s support to ensuring freedom of navigation”.
But crucially there are already calls by former commander of the Royal Navy, Admiral Lord West, to send a much more powerful and capable Type 45 destroyer, or guided missile warship, into the Black Sea amid escalating tensions.
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