The Armed Forces of Ukraine have been preparing for the Russian invasion for 5 months - since the autumn of 2021. This was stated by the new commander of the Ground Forces Oleksandr Pavliuk.

The military said that when he was appointed commander of the Joint Forces Operation in July 2021, he realized in the autumn that there was a "very high probability that there would be a full-scale war."

"It was still difficult to understand its scale, but it was obvious that it would at least capture the territory of Luhansk and Donetsk regions," Pavliuk said.

He added that there were all signs that the invasion would begin not only from the LDPR, but also from the Russian Federation.

"Therefore, in the autumn, we began to take certain actions to successfully meet and inflict maximum defeat on the enemy. Realizing that the balance of power and resources was and will be not in our favor, we still had no options - we had to stand up, because the whole of Ukraine was behind us. Therefore, for five months we have been preparing to repel a full-scale aggression," Pavliuk said.

According to him, by February, the positions had been strengthened.

"By February, we had done everything possible to meet the enemy with dignity: all positions were reinforced as much as possible, all possible options were calculated, and all reserves were moved. We conducted full-scale training at least twice, and a lot of local training was conducted," Pavliuk said.

According to him, the GUR reported on preparations for an invasion in January-February 2022.