Former Ukrainian Defense Minister Anatoliy Hrytsenko has said that the Ukrainian army is currently unfit for combat.
"The army is currently unfit for combat. It exists only at the expense of our people. There is not a single combat- ready battalion, not a single combat-ready squadron, not a single combat-ready unit in the Navy, and nobody is worried about that. Neither [President Viktor] Yanukovych nor [Prime Minister Mykola] Azarov," he said during an Internet conference on the Web site of the LigaBusinessInform agency on Wednesday.
Hrytsenko said that at least five to seven years would be needed to recover the army from its current state.
When asked whether he will agree to become defense minister again, Hrytsenko said: "I won’t agree to be defense minister under supreme commander-in-chief Yanukovych."
"It’s possible just under one condition – in case of a real threat of war, when it will be necessary to defend our country," he said.
