General Nazarov: «The enemy's success became possible due to our operational unpreparedness»
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- Alisa Melik-Adamian
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6:06, 03 February, 2025
Advisor and consultant to former Commander-in-Chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi, Major General Viktor NazarovMajor General Viktor Nazarov, an adviser and consultant to former Commander-in-Chief Valeriy Zaluzhny, believes that the decision to use the Armed Forces of Ukraine could have been made two months before Russia's invasion of Ukraine. This would have allowed the Ukrainian Armed Forces to be better prepared to repel the armed aggression.
Viktor Nazarov said this in an interview with the BBC.
«Under certain circumstances — either direct aggression or a threat of attack — a decision is made after appropriate consideration by the National Security and Defence Council and then, according to the law on defence, it is submitted to the Verkhovna Rada, where a document on the use of the Armed Forces, mobilisation and, if necessary, the introduction of martial law is submitted.These are the three cornerstones that enable the Armed Forces to perform their functional duties in full. The duties that the Constitution assigns to them. If this is not the case, then we cannot say that the Armed Forces had all the necessary capabilities to ensure that they could perform their tasks,» said Viktor Nazarov.
When asked whether President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy rejected proposals to use the Armed Forces, martial law and mobilisation, the Major General replied that he could not say for sure, as he was not personally present at the relevant meetings.
At the same time, he stressed that if these decisions had been made in advance, the situation with repelling aggression in the south and north of Ukraine could have been much better:
«The enemy would hardly have had the same success as it did, based on the situation of our actual operational unpreparedness to repel such an invasion», the major general said.
As a reminder, the former Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces and current Ambassador of Ukraine to the UK, Valerii Zaluzhnyi, spoke out against the mobilisation of men aged 18-25, calling for the protection of young people. They should be involved in the war only in case of emergency.