Ukraine’s defence minister has said that a Russian invasion of his country is unlikely to occur in the early part of this week, pushing back against Western claims that an incursion could be imminent, APA reports citing BBC.

Alexei Reznikov said an attack "tomorrow or the day after tomorrow" is unlikely as no Russian "strike groups" have been formed near the border.

“In general, it can take weeks to deploy a strike group - from a week to half a month, to a month. Therefore, it depends on what plan can work in the minds of Kremlin leaders,” he told Ukraine’s ICTV network.

"As of today, our intelligence observes no attack force units but it doesn’t mean that they cannot deploy them when they want because the risks are still in place.”

Reznikov added that Russia’s long-term goal was to change the political system in Ukraine, and said that Moscow’s forces are attempting to “provoke” Ukrainian troops into a “mistake” to justify an invasion.

https://apa.az/en/europe/russian-attack-not-imminent-ukrainian-defence-minister-says-368792