President’s Office says Ukraine was in fact preparing for Russian invasion

Mykhailo Podoliak, an adviser to the head of the President's Office, assured that Ukraine had been preparing for the new phase of the Russian war, running military exercises and relocating its ammunition stocks to not allow the enemy destroy them immediately.

Podoliak addressed the issue on Twitter, Ukrinform reports.

"If Ukraine ‘wasn’t prepared’ for the war, why did the first Russian strikes hit mock-ups, ammunition was scattered, trainings were held on January and February? Ukraine’s been preparing since the last year: we‘ve known about the invasion not only from Western, but also by our intelligence," Podoliak said.

At the same time, he recalled that some governments believed that Ukraine’s resistance wouldn’t last long so they were in no hurry to help the nation.

"When others gave us three days, Ukraine intelligence said: we will endure. What other countries have done to stop it, knowing Moscow's plans – a question. If we had started getting heavy weapons in January, the situation could have been different," wrote the official.

Presidential spokesman Serhiy Nikiforov commented to LIGA.net on U.S. President Joe Biden claiming President Volodymyr Zelensky this winter had allegedly chosen to not hear warnings about the threat of a large-scale Russian invasion.

The spokesman recalled that the head of state had asked for preventive sanctions against the Russian Federation before the large-scale invasion of Ukraine, but the partners "did not want to hear" him.

According to Nikiforov, at that time Zelensky had three or four phone calls with Biden in which the leaders exchanged detailed views and assessments of the situation.

On February 24, Russia launched an unprovoked full-scale war against Ukraine.