Navy Commander: Ukrainian military could have prevented annexation of Crimea in 2014
During questioning in the court case against former President Viktor Yanukovych, who is accused of high treason, Ukrainian Commander of the Navy Ihor Voronchenko said that the Ukrainian military had been ready to fire from two tanks in the building of the Crimean Verkhovna Rada on February 27, 2014 in order to prevent the annexation of the peninsula by Russia, Ukrainski Novyny News agency reports.
Voronchenko, who served as Chief of the Coastal Defense Administration at the time, said that on February 27, 2014, he provided the leadership of the Ukrainian Navy with a plan to use tanks to liberate the building of the Crimean Verkhovna Rada from the invaders, but received no response.
Voronchenko also said that Alpha special operations unit of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) had been ready to unlock the captured buildings in the Crimea.
He also noted that he received no orders in writing for the use of weapons during the annexation of the Crimea.
Moreover, Voronchenko said that the Ukrainian intelligence services had previously warned of preparation by Russia to seize the peninsula, but the Ukrainian High Command did not take any action.
Voronchenko is sure that it was Yanukovych who, prior to Russian aggression in the Crimea, had to issue an order for martial law.
According to the Navy commander, Russia sent a fake order of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry during the annexation of the Crimea regarding the surrender of weapons to the Ukrainian military.
Russia has not publicly commented on this issue.
On December 27, a court in Kyiv questioned Voronchenko as a witness in the Yanukovych case.
At the end of June, the Court commenced the trial in absentia of former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, who is charged with high treason. The former President has been appointed a public defender several times, since Yanukovych's lawyers refused to participate in the process.
Yanukovych is a figurant in several criminal cases in Ukraine: specifically regarding his abuse of authority from November 2013 to February 2014, the mass killings of Maidan activists, and seizure of state power in 2010.
The former Ukrainian President, who fled to Russia after the shooting of protesters at Maidan, denies the charges.