Skibitskyi: It is too early to talk about turning point in war, but 2023 is year of our victory

He stated this in the interview with Ukrinform.

"It is too early to talk about a complete turning point in war today, but there are signs that the situation will change. 2023 is the year of our Victory. Our Victory is already there even the fact that we have been defending our independence in war with a nuclear state for almost a year, which has greater mobilization and economic potential. This is already a strategic defeat for Russia, which not only we are talking about, but also the whole civilized world," he said.

In addition, Skibitskyi also added that this is not only about victory on the battlefield, but also about victory in all other directions: such a powerful coalition of states, which supports Ukraine now, has never existed in the entire recent history of our country, and this is already a victory.

In particular, Skibitskyi drew attention to the fact that Russian Federation is currently conducting a powerful information campaign against Ukraine in order to stretch Ukrainian forces and scare the population.

"You see how many Russian analysts who are currently working abroad talk about 220,000-strong group on the territory of Belarus, and just recently they said that 150,000 were deployed there... In fact, they are not there. The group that is there now is impossible to compare with what happened in February last year," he added.

He also noted that readiness checks of units defending the northern border of the state were carried out in Ukraine, appropriate defensive lines were prepared, air defense system was deployed and strengthened, including Kyiv.

"And if we shoot down Russian cruise missiles now, believe me, shooting down helicopters and planes is much easier," he added.

• On January 16, Ukrainian intelligence reported that Russian president Vladimir Putin had set for the new commander of the military group in Ukraine, Valery Gerasimov, the task of capturing Donbas by March 2023.