Ukraine's defense chief sees no reason to impose martial law

There are currently no grounds for imposing martial law in Ukraine and limiting the media space.

This was announced by Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov at ICTV’s Freedom of Speech panel show, who answered the question of whether a decision on martial law and restrictions on the information space should be expected, according to an Ukrinform correspondent.

"I am convinced there are no grounds for imposing a special legal regime. This can’t be done only to regulate the media atmosphere and space. We live in a democracy, so we are learning to pass such tests, too.  I am absolutely convinced that we will also survive this crisis, which is primarily of an informational nature, and we will emerge from it even stronger. At the same time, martial law is imposed if there’s direct aggression and invasion. I hope that such an invasion won’t happen," Reznikov said.

Read also: Pentagon chief, NATO secretary general discuss Russia's build-up around Ukraine

As Ukrinform reported earlier, experts in the West are looking into several options for Russian aggression against Ukraine. In particular, the documents published by the American intelligence suggest the Russian Federation could move into Ukraine with hundreds of battalion tactical groups. Russian troops may also advance from Belarus.

As of February 8, 119,000 Russian servicemen had massed along the Ukrainian borders with Russia and Belarus, as well as in the temporarily occupied areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Together with the aerial and maritime components, their number amounts to 140,000.

Photo: Ukrainian President’s Office

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