"I agree that Russia had been planning everything far ahead. I think the war was scheduled for 2015 after Viktor Yanukovych, who was loyal to the Kremlin, had lost an election," a Ukrainian special forces officer told Radio Svoboda, speaking on condition of anonymity.
"As a result, the situation would have been rocked through an already created conspiracy group and due to an elaborated information warfare plan, and war would have been waged to divide Ukraine along the River Dnipro. The Maidan [later described as the Revolution of Dignity, late November 2013 – February 2014] disrupted the plans and made Russia do everything in a hurry," the officer said.
The Ukrainian serviceman said he estimated the Russian troops in Ukraine at up to 10,000 men.
"If one speaks about the regular units of the army of the Russian Federation, the bulk of work is done by artillery divisions, electronic warfare support, signals intelligence, while mechanized units of the regular army of the Russian Federation go into combat only in case of urgent necessity," he said.
