Reactions To The 2021–2022 Russo-Ukrainian Crisis

Many states, international organizations, and civil society actors worldwide had expressed their reactions to the then-escalating crisis between Russia and Ukraine that started in March 2021. The crisis eventually culminated in a Russian invasion of Ukraine, beginning on 24 February 2022.

Ukraine

In an interview with the French newspaper ''Libération'' in April 2021, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said that provocations by Russia with the relocation of troops to the border with Ukraine and the aggravation of the situation in the east are the most serious since the attack on Ukrainian sailors in the Kerch Strait in November 2018. At the same time, the current threat from Russia was more dangerous. In an interview with the Spanish news agency EFE, Kuleba said that Ukraine did not want a war with Russia and was not preparing for any escalation in Donbas at the time. In particular, it was not preparing any offensives or military operations. During renewed tensions in January 2022, Kuleba stated that any reckless step of the Russian Federation or a new round of violence on its part would cost it dearly. Kuleba said that Russia continued to increase its military presence along the Ukrainian-Russian border, in the occupied territories and in the seas of Ukraine. According to him, Russia was gathering troops in three directions, including in the northeast of Ukraine; in Crimea, in the south; and in the Donbas, in the east. Kuleba also added that in recent weeks, Russia had significantly intensified its propaganda, which dehumanizes Ukrainians and sows hatred for Ukraine. On 22 January 2022, Kuleba accused Germany of "undermining" unity among the country's allies and of "encouraging" Russian President Putin to attack Ukraine by refusing to deliver weapons to Ukraine.

Oleksii Danilov, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, stated that Ukraine seeks to resolve the conflict in the east of the country primarily through political and diplomatic means. "Ukraine currently has no plan to return the temporarily occupied territories by military means, our task is to resolve the conflict exclusively through political and diplomatic means," he said. "Everything else is a pure information war of the Russian Federation, which they are waging not only on our territory but throughout Europe."

In September 2021, Ukraine's Naftogaz CEO Yuriy Vitrenko accused Russia of using natural gas as a "geopolitical weapon". Vitrenko stated that "A joint statement from the United States and Germany said that if the Kremlin used gas as a weapon, there would be an appropriate response. We are now waiting for the imposition of sanctions on a 100% subsidiary of Gazprom, the operator of Nord Stream 2."

In November 2021, Kyrylo Budanov, the head of Ukraine's Chief Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defence, said that Russia was preparing for an attack by the end of January or beginning of February 2022.

On 4 November, a new defence minister was approved — former Deputy Prime Minister – Minister for the Reintegration of Temporarily Occupied Territories Oleksii Reznikov, who participated in the meetings of the Trilateral Contact Group on behalf of Ukraine.

In January 2022, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a video message that the country's citizens should not panic and appealed to the media to be "methods of mass information and not mass hysteria."

Former leader of the "Right Sector", Dmytro Yarosh said on Facebook on January 24 that in the event of a Russian strike on Ukraine from the territory of the Republic of Belarus, Ukrainian fighters will turn their lives into hell:

On 24 January 2022, Oleksiy Danilov, the secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council, said that the movement of Russian troops near Ukraine's border was "not news" and "we don't see any grounds for statements about a full-scale offensive on our country." According to Danilov, the implementation of the Minsk agreements, in particular the broad autonomy to the rebel-held Donbas, "means the country's destruction. When they were signed under the Russian gun barrel — and the German and the French watched — it was already clear for all rational people that it's impossible to implement those documents."

On 25 January 2022, Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said he saw no immediate threat of a full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, insisting that the threat had not significantly increased in eight years as "the Russian army ha not formed a strike group that would be able to carry out an invasion". Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar stated the variety of Russian troops massed on Ukraine's borders "are not enough for a full-scale invasion."

In late January 2022, Zelenskyy went on to accuse Ukraine's western allies of "sowing unrest with predictions of imminent war." On 28 January 2022, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on the West not to create a "panic" in his country over a potential Russian invasion, adding that constant warnings of an "imminent" threat of invasion were putting the economy of Ukraine at risk. Zelenskyy stated that "we do not see a bigger escalation" than in early 2021 when the first Russian military build-up began. On 2 February, the US White House announced it would no longer describe the potential invasion as "imminent". On 12 February 2022, in response to the White House's "imminent" Russian invasion warnings, Zelenskyy asserted that "in the information space, there is too much information about a deep, full-scale invasion from Russia. The best friend of our enemy is panic in our country, and all that information which helps create only panic doesn't help us."

On 19 February 2022, speaking at the Munich Security Conference 2022, Volodymyr Zelenskyy criticized the "policy of appeasement" towards Russia and called on Western countries to help. He also declared that Ukraine would not respond to provocations by Russian-backed militants in Donbas, following the death of two Ukrainian soldiers by separatists forces. On 22 February 2022, Zelenskyy said he would consider severing Ukraine's diplomatic relations with Russia.

Russia

The Kremlin has repeatedly denied that it has any plans to invade Ukraine. Despite the Russian military build-ups, Russian officials over months repeatedly denied that Russia had plans to invade Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin dismissed such fears as "alarmist". The Russian embassy in Washington, D.C. called the movements of Russian troops a "sovereign right" and said in a Facebook post: "Once again we emphasize: Russia is not going to attack anyone." Sergei Naryshkin, director of Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service, dismissed reports of a possible invasion of Ukraine asserting that it was "malicious propaganda by the US State Department". Putin's foreign policy adviser Yury Ushakov dismissed fears of a military escalation as "nonsense", saying "We have the right to move the troops on our territory."

Russian Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov said "information about Russia's alleged impending invasion of Ukraine is a lie." According to Gerasimov, "Kyiv is not fulfilling the Minsk Agreements. The Ukrainian armed forces are touting that they have started to employ US-supplied Javelin anti-tank missile systems in Donbas and are also using Turkish reconnaissance/strike drones. As a result, the already tense situation in the east of that country is further deteriorating."

On 12 July 2021, Russian President Vladimir Putin wrote an article on '' Kremlin.ru'', claiming that "Russians and Ukrainians were one people – a single whole" and wrote a long dissertation on the common origins of Russians, Belarusians and Ukrainians in medieval Kievan Rus' and their history through the century, concluding that "true sovereignty of Ukraine is possible only in partnership with Russia". He also argued that the Ukrainian leadership had "wasted and frittered away the achievements of many generations", accusing them of imposing a nationalist, anti-Russian sentiment against the will of the Ukrainian people. The article received a detailed response from British Defence Secretary Ben Wallace on '' Gov.uk'' on 17 January 2022.

On 30 November 2021, Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that an expansion of NATO's presence in Ukraine, especially the deployment of any long-range missiles capable of striking Russian cities or missile defense systems similar to those in Romania and Poland, would be a "red line" issue for Russia. Putin asked U.S. President Joe Biden for legal guarantees that NATO wouldn't expand eastward or put "weapons systems that threaten us in close vicinity to Russian territory." According to Putin, "If some kind of strike systems appear on the territory of Ukraine, the flight time to Moscow will be seven to 10 minutes, and five minutes in the case of a hypersonic weapon being deployed."

Dmitry Peskov

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