Ukraine's defence forces will liberate Crimea from Russian invaders by military means, unless the enemy realises that it needs to flee the temporarily occupied territories. At the same time, the main operation to de-occupy the peninsula has not yet begun.

This was stated by Oleksiy Danilov, Secretary of the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine, in an interview with Radio Liberty. When the host asked him to comment on the special operation of the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine in Crimea on 24 August, he noted that it was not the first operation of our soldiers on the peninsula.

"This is the first operation that became public. Before that, our Armed Forces and security forces were engaged in other operations. Not all operations can be reported to our society. The only thing I can say is that they will not end until the entire territory of our country, including the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, is liberated from terrorists," Danilov said (to watch the video, scroll to the end).

He said that "if necessary, this will be done by military means, if the Russians do not understand that they need to get out of our territory as soon as possible".

The journalist asked whether this meant that the military liberation of Crimea had already begun.

"When the military liberation of Crimea begins, we will see everything. It will be a more powerful operation than now," the NSDC Secretary replied.

According to him, the occupation forces "do not have the means to prevent us from fulfilling our tasks" to liberate our country.

As OBOZREVATEL wrote:

- Chief of the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine Kyrylo Budanov admitted that the Defence Forces "fell out of the schedule" for the liberation of the occupied territories and Crimea in particular. Events are developing more slowly than expected, but Ukraine continues to move towards its goal.

- Budanov also stated that our troops are capable of defeating the enemy in any part of the Crimea temporarily occupied by Russia if necessary.

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