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Ukraine’s security council chief sees no threat of Russian attack

Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council Secretary Alexey Danilov said Kiev is registering "provocations by Russia in Donbass"

KIEV, February 17. /TASS/. Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council Secretary Alexey Danilov said on Thursday that Kiev doesn’t see any signs of a full-blown operation against Ukraine.

"Regarding a full-blown operation against our country, we don’t see that," he said on 1+1 television channel.

He said Kiev is registering "provocations by Russia in Donbass."

"The goal is to prompt us to respond powerfully so we could be accused of something that we aren’t going to do," he said.

Danilov said Kiev should demonstrate restraint and the Ukrainian armed forces are ready to resist provocations.

There has been a flurry of statements in the West and Kiev lately that Russia could invade Ukraine. Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said they were unsubstantiated escalation and that Russia doesn’t threaten anyone. At the same time, he didn’t rule out provocations to corroborate these Western statements and warned that the use of force to resolve the crisis in southeastern Ukraine will have serious consequences.

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