Igor Klymenko: At each of the stages of the war, the most active resistance to the occupiers was made by the forces of the Ministry of Internal Affairs - guards, policemen, border guards and rescuers
The Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Igor Klymenko shared his assessments with the RBC-Ukraine agency about whether a full-scale Russian invasion could have been avoided a year ago and whether the aggressor's plans have changed so far.
“History does not recognize a conditional way of “if” or “if.” A full-scale invasion happened... I didn't want to believe it could have happened. But [we] were preparing. At that time I was the head of the National Police. Plans, schemes, provision — everything was developed, improved. And when the invasion had already begun, then, of course, there were adjustments depending on the situation,” the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs noted.
He stressed that this is not the first anniversary of the war, because the war has been going on since 2014 — first in the format of ATO, and then the PLO. According to the Minister, it was clear that a full-scale invasion would sooner or later happen, the main thing was to resist.
“And we survived. And we step forward. Victory will definitely be ours. I don't think Russia's strategic plans have changed. The goal of the Kremlin is to destroy Ukraine as an independent state, to prevent us from the possibility of European and Euro-Atlantic integration — joining the EU and NATO,” Ihor Klymenko added.
In the context of resistance to Russian aggression, the Minister noted that the team of the Ministry of Internal Affairs is a co-author of the decisive repulse against the enemy. He stressed that this happened from the first seconds of the war, when border guards recorded violations of the state border and began to inflict fire on the enemy.
“Battle for Kyiv, liberation of Kyiv region, Chernihiv region, Sumy region, Kharkiv region, Kherson and the right bank Kherson region. Heroic defense of Mariupol. In each of these stages of the war, the forces of the Ministry of Internal Affairs participated as actively as possible — guards, policemen, border guards and rescuers.”
The head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs is convinced that at the moment the Russian aggressor is exhaling, because he cannot achieve his goal on the battlefield.
