Ukrainian minister: If Ukraine falls, 'Putin will attack Poland and march all the way to Berlin'

Created: 08/31/2022, 22:14

By: Bettina Menzel

Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu (l.) in consultations with President Vladimir Putin (middle).

(Archive photo) © Alexei Nikolsky / AP / dpa

The Ukrainian armed forces are also defending Germany in the war against Russia, says the Ukrainian Minister for Information Policy.

Because if the Ukraine falls, the Russian troops would come as far as Berlin.

Kyiv - Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced further arms deliveries to Ukraine last week.

These include anti-aircraft systems, tanks and rocket launchers worth a total of over half a billion euros.

The delivery is to take place “essentially in 2023”, according to the federal government.

Much too late, the Ukrainian Minister for Culture and Information Policy Oleksandr Tkachenko warned in an interview with the newspaper

on Wednesday - and warned of serious consequences for Germany.

Ukrainian minister warns: Putin will “next attack Poland and march to Berlin”

Weapons from the west play a crucial role in the Ukraine war.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has therefore repeatedly called on western countries to continue supplying arms.

It is also about speed, stressed the Ukrainian Minister Olakesandr Tkachenko.

"Ukrainians are being bombed and killed right now, every day counts," said the politician and made it clear that he also viewed the words of the German government with a certain skepticism.

“2023 is not only too late, but also just a promise.

Unfortunately, we have seen in the past that deliveries have been delayed.” Tkachenko said that this is not only about the fate of Ukraine, but also about the future of Germany.

"I hope that people here will understand that we are also defending Germany.

If Ukraine falls, Putin will next attack Poland and march all the way to Berlin.”

Minister of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine Oleksandr Tkachenko in December 2021 in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv (archive photo).

© Yevhen Kotenko / Ukrinform / Imago

Tkachenko confirms suspected counter-offensive in southern Ukraine: "Liberation of Kherson very important"

According to its own statements, the Ukrainian army launched an offensive on Monday to recapture the Cherson region.

While some military pundits saw this as merely a ruse, news outlets reported an increase in hostilities in the south.

Minister Tkachenko said on Wednesday that there was indeed an offensive near Cherson.

"The expectation among the Ukrainians is that we will liberate Kherson.

And we will do that,” the politician continued.

Cherson borders on the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia annexed in 2014, and is therefore also strategically important, but Russian troops had already taken control of the region in March.

A reconquest would be of great importance for Ukraine.

"With this offensive we would take an important step," said Tkachenko.

"I can't talk about the war plans and war strategies, but the liberation of Kherson is very important for us.

After we have already expelled Russia from the Kyiv, Chernihiv and Sumy regions, this would be the beginning of the liberation of all Ukraine,” believes the Minister of Information Policy.

He also gave small insights into tactics: First of all, Ukraine must protect the big cities that are under daily bombardment from Russia.

"By that I mean Kharkiv, Mykolaiv and Zaporizhia," the minister continued.

"To do this, we have to push back Russian troops so far that they are no longer within their reach.

That's why we're starting to liberate Cherson now," he said, explaining the background to the alleged offensive.

The German military expert Carlo Masala from the University of the Bundeswehr on Tuesday did not classify the alleged attack by Ukraine on Russian troops in Cherson as a counteroffensive.

“We have a very, very unclear situation.

I wouldn't speak of a major counter-offensive just yet," Masala said in an interview with

.

But he also conceded that a conquest would have great strategic importance.

If Ukraine were in control of Kherson, “they would also be in control of the fresh water supply to Crimea.

So that means an instrument of pressure to put even more pressure on the Russians in Crimea,” said Masala.

Russia would also have problems concealing such a defeat