Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a televised address to the nation on Tuesday that his government was “strong enough to keep everything under control and derail any attempts at destabilization.”
Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov also said on Tuesday that “as of today, there are no grounds to believe” Russia will invade imminently, telling the Ukrainian people: “Don’t worry, sleep well. No need to have your bags packed.”
On Wednesday, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told CNN that although Russia’s military buildup along Ukraine’s border and in occupied territories poses “a direct threat,” the number of Russian troops — estimated to be roughly 100,000 — is “insufficient for a full-scale offensive.”
“They also lack some important military indicators and systems to conduct such a large full-scale offensive,” Kuleba said. “We can say 100 times a day invasion is imminent, but this doesn’t change the situation on the ground.”
Kyslytsya, the U.N. envoy, appeared to echo Kuleba’s position on Wednesday. “We agree with the intelligence assessment that the Russian troops are amassed at the Ukrainian border at very impressive, unprecedented numbers — which is not still enough for the Russians to go in Ukraine and to hold the Ukrainian territory for a prolonged period of time,” he said.
President Joe Biden, who predicted last week that Russian President Vladimir Putin “will move in” on Ukraine, told reporters on Tuesday that it was unclear how the security situation would play out.
“I’ll be completely honest with you: It’s a little bit like reading tea leaves,” Biden said. “Ordinarily, if it were a different leader … you’d say, ‘Well, that means that he is looking like he’s going to do something.’ But then you look at what [Putin’s] past behavior is and what everyone is saying in his team, as well as everyone else, as to what is likely to happen: It all comes down to his decision.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
