Boris Pistorius, the Minister of Defense of Germany, considers it “completely normal” for the Ukrainian Armed Forces to operate on the territory of the occupying country of Russia for various operations to stop the enemy’s invasion. He said this in response to a question on the Meibrit Illner show on ZDF channel.
“In such a war, it is entirely normal if a person who has suffered an attack moves to enemy territory, for example, blocking supply routes,” said the head of the German Ministry of Defense.
According to Pistorius, “as long as neither cities nor civilians nor civilian areas of the aggressor suffer attacks, you will have to come to terms with this”.
“This is part of their [Ukraine’s] operations, for example, to prevent supply routes of [occupation troops],” he added.
In recent weeks, the occupiers have complained about supposed military operations by the Ukrainian Defense Forces in the border regions of Bryansk and Belgorod. Ukraine has not commented on these statements.
In the same talk show, Pistorius dismissed the idea of Ukraine quickly joining NATO.
At the end of February 2023, Budanov stated that Russia “is not ready for a decade-long war, speaking as the head of intelligence”, and decisive battles will take place in the middle to end of spring.