KIEV, February 11. /TASS/. Ukraine will not resort to a forceful takeover of the non-government-controlled areas in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions for fears of mass civilian deaths, Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council Secretary Alexey Danilov said at a briefing after the council’s meeting on Friday.

"We cannot do it (attack Donbass - TASS) as we are responsible for the civilian population that is there now. If, God forbid, the troops go on the offensive today, can you imagine how many people could die in such an operation?" he asked rhetorically.

Danilov branded the assumptions that Ukraine is poised to mount an attack on Donbass as "fiction."

Additionally, the Security Council secretary said with confidence that Donbass and Crimea would return to Ukraine.

"It is a matter of time," Danilov believes.

When touching upon protection of the national territory, he said that "Ukraine has enough means and forces to defend the country."

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov emphasized that the Western arms supplies to Kiev tempt it to resolve the Donbass crisis by force, which is unacceptable for Moscow. Russia’s Ambassador to Belarus Boris Gryzlov, who is also the Plenipotentiary Representative to the Contact Group seeking peace for eastern Ukraine, pointed out that Russia was trying through diplomatic efforts to stop Kiev from using force to resolve the Donbass issue, as, in his words, attempts were underway in Ukraine to plunge the country into a real war.