Interfax: Moscow calls provocative, shocking Ukrainian defense minister’s statement

Russian Foreign Ministry Building Tower file photo

(Interfax – September 2, 2014) The Russian Foreign Ministry has dubbed provocative the recent statement by Ukrainian Defense Minister Valeriy Heletey who announced “the end of the operation aimed to free eastern Ukraine from terrorists” and the beginning of “a great patriotic war, which will have tens of thousands of casualties.”

“The appeal of V. Heletey to prepare for another “tens of thousands” of casualties in what he called “a great patriotic war” or actually a new punitive operation in his own country is even more shocking. In doing so he plunges the Ukrainian people into further armed civilian confrontation. It seems the European history has never seen such a blasphemous covering of the wish to hold one’s position at any cost before,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a commentary.

“It is hard to believe that such statements can be made by the defense minister of a civilized state,” the Russian Foreign Ministry emphasized.

“Otherwise, it is simply unclear how tens of thousands of Ukrainian families could have trusted this official with the lives of their children, brothers and husbands mobilized by the Ukrainian army to wage a fratricidal war in their own country,” the commentary runs.

“The degree of adequacy of the Ukrainian defense minister, who has made the aforesaid statement on his Facebook page, is a subject for analysis by non-military specialists,” it said.

“The only thing worth mentioning about this text is the appointment of General Staff Chief V. Muzhenko as “the architect of remarkable victories” of the Ukrainian armed forces in the southeast,” the commentary said.

 

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