“Speaking of the western neighbors, the deployment of foreign troops on the territory of Ukraine is prohibited by the Constitution of Ukraine. Secondly, Ukraine is not a member of NATO and our country is not subject to the principle of collective defense, which is enshrined in Article 5 of the Washington Treaty. It is strange when the opposition makes this an element of political betrayal, especially when the United States refuses to support Ukraine militarily. This is not true”, - Dmytro Snegiryov, co-chairman of the Prava Sprava public initiative, told Suspilne Crimea.

The other day, US President Joe Biden said he would not send US troops to Ukraine in the event of a Russian invasion. If that happens, he will send troops to NATO's Eastern European countries to protect them, and he will destroy Russia with devastating economic sanctions.

"Under Poroshenko, the issue of military-technical assistance to Ukraine was put on hold. So far, after Biden's conversation with Zelensky, the American journalist, who was in the environmental zone, was shown a unit of the Armed Forces, which is on the line of demarcation and equipped with American Javelin anti-RPG missiles. This is a direct signal from Russia that the United States has changed its tactics and strategy of logistical military assistance to Ukraine, but has also agreed to the one-time use of lethal weapons. This shows confidence in the authorities of Ukraine and the Armed Forces.

The second significant point is that the United States has increased military-technical assistance. We are talking about $ 300 million. These factors indicate that there have been changes among the military-political leadership”, - the public activist said.

The expert noted that Biden's statement not to allow the 2014 scenario did not sound like that. In fact, the then authorities allowed Russia to seize Crimea and the eastern territories without a fight.

“Given the military-political situation around the state borders of Ukraine, measures have been taken in threatening areas to strengthen the air cover of these facilities in certain areas and locations. It is also planned to strengthen the protection and defense of bridges across the Dnieper River, as well as hydroelectric power plants, nuclear power plants and other critical infrastructure facilities", - Leonid Matyukhin said, spokesman for the Center for Operational Information of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine.

Dmytro Snegiryov reminded that with the help of our strategic partner - Great Britain, an ambitious project on the construction of two naval bases in Berdyansk and Ochakov was implemented.

One of the two naval bases of Ukraine is located in Berdyansk, Zaporozhye region. It is there that there is access to the sea, as well as the threat of escalation from Russia. To ensure peace at sea, and, consequently, on land - create a naval formation of the armed forces in the Zaporozhye region.

The newly elected Minister of Defense Oleksiy Reznikov visited Berdyansk in November 2021. He stressed the need to speed up the construction of the Navy base, as there are high risks to shipping from Russia.

According to Leonid Matyukhin, units of the Air Force of the Armed Forces are on combat duty around the clock. It involved more than a thousand servicemen and hundreds of units of military equipment of the Air Force.

Dmitry Snegiryov explained what to expect from the western neighbors.

"France has provided military-technical assistance for 2022. There are statements from the opposition that this money is intended for the rearmament of the Armed Forces. This is not true. That money goes to an additional amount and is not provided by the Ukrainian budget.

During Zelensky's meeting with Macron, the French side handed over equipment for the needs of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine, which once again speaks of trust in our country. Western countries understand what external challenges Russia is facing”, - the military expert said.

He also noted that in 2022 we can expect the escalation of the territories of Ukraine.

"It is worth noting that Putin's statements that Russia has no plans to launch a large-scale military aggression against Ukraine are untrue. The aggression has been going on since 2014 and there is a war between Russia and Ukraine, not the so-called "self-proclaimed republics of LPR and DPR". In 2022, we can expect an escalation of the territories of Ukraine. Russia will demonstrate this in the form of intensification on the part of "LPR" and "DPR".

It should be noted that the information on the location of heavy armored vehicles has been confirmed by the OSCE SMM. Moreover, the information about the accumulation of heavy armored vehicles outside the breeding zone due to the Minsk agreements has been confirmed. In total, it is 240 units of heavy armored vehicles”, - Dmytro Snegiryov said.

On December 11, in an interview with 1 + 1 TV channel, Volodymyr Zelensky admitted the possibility of holding a referendum on the status of the DPR and LPR and on ending the war in general.