Lieutenant General Oleksandr Skipalskyi is one of the founding fathers of the Ukrainian special services. After the restoration of independence, he participated in the formation of the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine and became its first chief.

In an exclusive interview with Ukrainian Week, the general shared his memories of the formation of Ukraine's security forces and stated that in the 1990s, there were all signs that russia was preparing a war against our country.

In May 1992, Oleksandr Skipalsky, then the head of Ukraine's military counterintelligence, wrote a memo to Yevhen Marchuk, the head of the Ukrainian Security Service.

“In the memo, I officially stated that russia was seriously considering the possibility of war in Donbas and could soon put its plans into action. The then Minister of Defense Konstantin Morozov, sharing my position, issued a directive to deploy a military corps in Donbas, to Ukrainize it and thus help the Donbas population to take a more Ukrainian position,” recalled Skipalsky.

In response, moscow began to create the image of a “radical” for Morozov.

“Then russia, in particular through its agents of influence, did everything to claim that Morozov had taken too radical a position toward President Leonid Kravchuk on the Black Sea Fleet issue, and thus pushed him out of the leadership of the Armed Forces,” the general added.

And while the confrontation between pro-russian and pro-Ukrainian forces continued in the 1990s, new fighters for the Ukrainian nation's freedom were growing.

“I have always reassured them that they should not worry, that every day they live in independent Ukraine makes us stronger.[...] During the 30 years of Ukraine's independence, we have buried a significant part of the carriers of the past Beria mentality. A new generation has come to replace them, and they are now mostly at war. Still, our national idea has won,” said Skipalsky.

Read the full text of the first part of the interview via the link.