Military hoped to the last that Russia would only attack through Donbas - brigadier general

VALENTYNA ROMANENKO — SATURDAY, 4 JUNE 2022, 12:16

Dmytro Krasylnykov, the commander of the Pivnich [North] operational and tactical group, says the military hoped up until the last moment that Russia would begin its active hostilities from the temporarily occupied territory of Donbas. The Joint Forces were ready for the invaders’ attack.

Source: Brigadier General Dmytro Krasylnykov, commander of the Pivnich [North] operational and tactical group, quoted by the press centre of the General Staff

Quote: "We thought and, we can say, hoped that the enemy would start its active hostilities from the occupied territory of Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts. Again, [we thought that the invaders] might be disguised as units of illegal armed groups from the "LDPR" [self-proclaimed Luhansk and Donetsk People’s Republics], volunteers and mercenaries, adding a few of their regular [Russian] troops, perhaps with the support of long-range MLRS and aviation. Perhaps. 

We believed to the last that our enemy would not go as far as large-scale aggression on all fronts, in all areas. We hoped for the best, but prepared for the worst."

Details: Krasylnykov says that the transition to active hostilities was not unexpected for the Pivnich [North] operational and tactical group. 

He said that the military was "in shape", units and subdivisions were in combat positions, and artillery was positioned in the expected areas.

Quote: "So the first strike on the areas of withdrawal was unsuccessful for the enemy and we retained our main combat power… and this enabled us to inflict serious losses on the enemy in our subsequent actions."