Commander of the Svoboda battalion: We need to prepare positions for new Russian attacks

A ceasefire with Russia can be both beneficial and detrimental to Ukraine. It is advisable to use it to strengthen existing positions and prepare for a new possible Russian offensive. This was stated by Lieutenant Colonel Petro Kuzyk, commander of the Svoboda battalion, in an interview with for LIGA.net .

He noted that if Ukraine waits hopefully for the negotiation process, the ceasefire will not be beneficial. The enemy will be able to accumulate forces and prepare for new attacks.

"I would have used the truce to replace the positions and strengthen the dugouts. If they allowed me to bring in equipment, I would have poured concrete over everything, or blocked it from logs to slabs. I would set up mines so that my mice would blow up, accumulate ammunition, and shoot everything. I would have brought a lot of drones to the positions," said Kuzyk .

If everything had ended in peace, the battalion commander said, he would have shown the map of mines and given the order to clear them. But if peace had not been achieved and the enemy had started to attack again, the Defense Forces would have been in a favorable position.

The military said that Russians have been cultivating hatred for Ukraine for many years through propaganda, so there is no need to hope for a quick peace.

"They are devils, I mean they have gone crazy. They look decent, but they've gone crazy. And you have to be an idiot to have illusions that you can negotiate with them... We are dealing with a crazy nation that has been degraded on purpose," Kuzyk said .

• on June 19, First Deputy Foreign Minister Serhiy Kyslytsya said that Istanbul cannot bring a truce, Zelenskyy-Putin meeting is needed.
• On June 24, NATO Secretary General said that Trump broke the deadlock in the Ukraine-Russia war, by starting a dialogue with Putin. But there will be no immediate agreement, he said.