REUTERS

Minister of Defense of Ukraine Andriy Zagorodnyuk says he is now seeing no imminent threat of a Russian attack from the south, that is, from the territory of the occupied Crimea.

"We constantly feel the threat," the minister said in an exclusive interview with 1+1 TV.

"Our task is to defend the country amid any developments. We're seeing no critical strengthening that would go beyond [Russia's] plans, of which we learned at year-start, Known to us since the beginning of the year," said Zagorodnyuk.

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At the same time, the top defense official noted that the militarization process in the occupied Crimea is ongoing.

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"We've been monitoring this – our intelligence has been on it, so we're aware of the adversary's moves. We're not seeing the scenario that the threat has grown critically," he added.

Asked if Ukraine Army is able to protect its territories on its own in the event of a full-blown Russian invasion, the minister said: "Yes, it is."

The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine appointed Zagorodnyuk to the post of Minister of Defense on August 29, 2019.