On the eve of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, then-Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba received alarming signals from American intelligence during a visit to Washington. According to The Guardian, on February 22, 2022, he was shown data on the location of Russian troops along the Ukrainian border, including points where “Russian tanks were warming up their engines and waiting to cross the border.”.
After meeting with intelligence officials, Kuleba was unexpectedly invited to the Oval Office for a conversation with US President Joe Biden. According to the Ukrainian diplomat, this conversation resembled “a conversation between a doctor and a patient” who has an incurable diagnosis. “When I left the Oval Office, I had the feeling that Biden was saying goodbye to me and to the people of Ukraine,” Kuleba said.
At the same time, final preparations for a possible attack were underway in Ukraine. At the headquarters of the Armed Forces, Commander-in-Chief Valery Zaluzhny, together with senior commanders, were carrying out the last defensive measures. Mines were laid on the bottom of the Black Sea to prevent a possible naval landing in the Odessa area, and units were transferred to strategically important areas.
One of the Ukrainian generals noted that some of these decisions formally contradicted current norms and could have led to criminal proceedings, but the threat of invasion forced commanders to act proactively.
Ukrainian military intelligence, led by Kirill Budanov, received information from Western partners about Russia's plans to seize the airfield in Gostomel. This information allowed them to develop defensive measures for the last night before the attack and prepare key positions.
The Guardian also notes that American intelligence agencies have been receiving signals for several weeks about a possible Russian invasion in February 2022. The US president sent CIA Director William Burns to Moscow to warn the Kremlin about the potential economic and political consequences.
On the day the invasion began, February 24, 2022, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy asked then-British Prime Minister Boris Johnson to call Vladimir Putin and convince him to stop the war.
At the same time, in early February, Ukrainian border guards intercepted a message from the commander of a Chechen unit stationed in Belarus, addressed to Ramzan Kadyrov. It spoke of the unit's readiness to enter Kyiv.
The material from the British publication allows us to recreate the atmosphere of the last days before February 24 - a period when signals of invasion became increasingly concrete, and the Ukrainian side was preparing for the worst-case scenario.
