"The Armed Forces of Ukraine and the country as a whole today should be preparing for possible aggression," Ivan Aparshyn, an aide to the head of the Ukrainian president's office, said at a roundtable at Gorshenin Institute.
"I’m not talking about the level of this aggression, its scale, but it’s necessary to prepare for it. And this is normal. Japan is preparing for the tsunami. They don’t know when the tsunami will hit or on what scale. Japan is always preparing to mitigate the consequences of the tsunami as much as possible. Today, Ukraine is like Japan that is preparing for the tsunami," he said.
"As planning experts, we always take into account the highest possible level of threat, with maximum negative consequences for Ukraine," the expert said.
"As an expert, having the necessary figures, documents and analysis, I argue that in the near or perhaps medium term, an armed conflict with Russia is likely," Aparshyn said, adding that this is his expert opinion, not the position of the Office of the president's office.
At the same time, he noted that the analysis of the data showed the likelihood of a conflict with Russia decades ago, and the National Security and Defence Council, the General Staff and top officials of the state were notified about this.
Gorshenin Institute hosted a roundtable discussion "Key military challenges to Ukraine and its response capacity" on 7 August. The event was organized by Gorshenin Institute and the Ukrainian Security Studies Institute.