Ukraine may reach 1991 borders this year, but war will stop only with NATO's 'umbrella' - military expert Svitan

Military expert Roman Svitan said this on Espreso TV. 

“There are two stages of the war. The first one is the 1991 border offensive. We need a certain amount of forces and means for the offensive. Human, financial, and economic efforts. We can complete this stage of the war this year if the same dynamics of arms supplies remain. But the war will not end in this case, it will only end if we are already in NATO by the time we reach the border,” he said.

According to Svitan, only the NATO 'umbrella' can protect Ukrainians.

“If NATO accepts us, the war will end immediately. Either NATO or we will have to fight for another 10 years while Russia disintegrates. They will be fighting against our front, which will be the border, and we will have to hold back this invasion. Joining NATO itself is also unstable, and we must return our nuclear status. Either resume production of nuclear weapons or, upon joining NATO, deploy and manage about 100 warheads,” the expert believes.