You're reading: Ukrainian experts say Russian invasion was years in making

The Russian military invasion of Ukraine has been in the works for years, but still left Ukrainian officials unprepared while other former officials appeared to be working in cahoots with the Kremlin, according to experts who spoke at a news conference in Kyiv today.

Russian troops, whose number may have now exceeded 16,000 soldiers, went beyond their Russian Black Sea Fleet bases in Crimea on Feb. 27 and seized control of the peninsula.

Some 6,000 soldiers joined them, coming to Crimea onboard of cargo planes, according to estimates of Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense. “Russian apparently had these plans long ago,” Chaly said even as Ukraine’s military doctrine rated the possibility of such an attack as no possible.

“Ukraine had no plan of reaction on these plans,” Valeriy Chaly, deputy head of the Razumkov Center think tank in Kyiv, said.

Chaly, also a former deputy head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said: “All including heads of military headquarters, chiefs of military intelligence, Ministry of Foreign Affairs were not thinking about possible aggression from Russia.”

Vitaly Portnikov, a journalist, said there were signs that defense officials in the government of ousted President Viktor Yanukovych were acting in Russian interests.

“Who were these people – (Pavlo) Lebedev (former defense minister) or (Oleksandr) Yakymenko (former Security Services of Ukraine chief)?” Portnikov asked. “Both officials were Russian-born and served for years in Russia. And another defense minister, Dmytro Salamatin, was a relative (son-in-law) of former Russian Prime Minister Oleg Soskovets!” Portnikov said. “These people were working for the destruction of Ukraine’s armed forces for years.”  

Meanwhile, Chaly believes that Russia didn’t realise that after EuroMaidan Revolution Ukraine changed dramatically, and after launching the attack Russia totally lost the role it used to play in this country.

“And now Ukraine’s future is being decided in other places, unfortunately not in Ukrainian ones,” Chaly said.

Kyiv Post staff writer Oksana Grytsenko can be reached at [email protected]