Officer explains why Ukraine would have won if it had fought for Crimea in 2014

He shared the information in an interview with 1+1 TV presenter Natalia Moseychuk.

Biletskyi believes that “Ukraine surrendered the Crimean peninsula to Russia in 2014, having the ability to resist.” He emphasized that most military units were ready to defend Crimea.

“I believe that Crimea... was not such a clear-cut story. We simply, literally, surrendered it. Hundreds and hundreds of thousands of people were for Ukraine. Tens of thousands went to rallies. They were ready to organize ‘brigades.’ There were different [military] units. But most of the units were ready to execute the order and defend the Crimean peninsula in the first days,” he said.

The 3rd Brigade commander added that, as far as he knows now, Russian forces had an order not to expose themselves to danger: “In case of resistance, to turn around and fly back to Kuban in a ‘blue helicopter.’ But it didn't work out that way. That's why it was surrendered in such a manner.”

• Pavlo Lakiychuk, Head of Security Programs at the Center for Global Studies Strategy XXI, noted that the Ukrainian Armed Forces are destroying the Russian army's logistics routes in Crimea.