His concerns were echoed by other Ukrainian officials, including Vadim Skabitsky, a representative of the Chief Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, who claimed that his agency believes that Russia has assembled a powerful military force in Crimea and is poised to launch an offensive against Ukraine.
Pentagon officials have evaluated the concerns voiced by Kiev and their verdict was plain and simple: stop chasing unicorns!
"What we don't see (is) this unicorn a lot of people are chasing, this idea that there's some massive short-term build up or movement about to happen," Davis said, according to AFP.
The captain pointed out that the apparent buildup of the Russian troops, not surprisingly, coincides with the period of military drills that Russia holds in the same region every year.
"I think we are seeing movements associated with the upcoming exercise, we are not seeing this massive buildup of forces that has been suggested," Davis added.
The relations between Moscow and Kiev escalated dramatically earlier this month after Russian authorities detained a team of suspected Ukrainian saboteurs in Crimea.
Russian security forces' attempts to capture the men resulted in the deaths of a Federal Security Service officer and a Russian serviceman, prompting outrage in Moscow.
On August 11, Poroshenko put Ukrainian military forces on the border with Crimea and in the Donbass on high alert. This provoked a corresponding response from the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, whose leadership said that they could not rule out "provocations" from Kiev forces in near future.
