Ukrainian military expert, retired Colonel Oleh Zhdanov rules out a further large-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine as Russia has no resources to launch it.
"Two army corps can make an incursion by 50 km the farthest. I tell you this as a military man. For the corps to move on, there should be at least two corps in reserve, that is, for every 15,000 from the corps there must be 30,000 reserve troops – armed and in full gear. When we see the massing of such a large resource along our borders, then we will know that Russia has been preparing for a large-scale war," he said during a chat session organized by the news outlet Glavred.
Read alsoTwo Ukraine soldiers wounded in Donbas on Oct 5
"The worst what Russia could do in Donbas is to increase the number of attacks and their firepower, which will translate into a rise in our losses, which we see from time to time," he explained.
Yet, the expert warns the self-proclaimed republics – the "Donetsk People's Republic" ("DPR") and the "Luhansk People's Republic" ("LPR") – may seize more Ukrainian territory by redrawing "their border" after the Ukrainian army withdraws as part of the disengagement deal on Donbas.
"The fact is that we don't have a third party that could guarantee the fulfillment of both parties commitments. And you understand that the holy place is never empty – as soon as our troops leave the area, the enemy will come there sooner or later. The OSCE is an observation mission that will not interfere with the course of events," he explained.
As UNIAN reported earlier, one Ukrainian soldier was wounded in action and another one sustained a combat-related injury in Donbas, eastern Ukraine, on October 5. In total, there were 24 enemy attacks on that day.
