I am not afraid of war with Russia: Poroshenko
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko says Kyiv is ready for a “total war” with Russia as clashes continue in the eastern part of the country.
“I am not afraid of a war with Russian troops,” the Ukrainian president told the German daily, Bild, in an interview on Sunday.
“We are prepared for a scenario of total war…. We don’t want war, we want peace and we are fighting for European values. But Russia does not respect any agreement,” Poroshenko added.
The Ukrainian president’s comments came amid ongoing clashes around the pro-Russians’ stronghold of Donetsk.
Kyiv and the pro-Russians inked a truce pact in early September in an effort to put an end to heavy clashes in Ukraine’s eastern provinces, but the fighting continues unabated.
“Our army is now in a better state than it was five months ago and we are being supported by the entire world,” Poroshenko said, adding, “More than anything we want peace, but we must at the moment face up to the worst-case scenario.”
The crisis in Ukraine was high on the agenda at a summit of leaders of the world’s 20 major economies, known as the G20, in the Australian city of Brisbane. Western leaders at the summit criticized Russian President Vladimir Putin and accused Moscow of being involved in the Ukrainian crisis.
Putin’s foreign policy adviser, Yuri Ushakov, told reporters at the G20 summit earlier on Saturday that Moscow is not involved in the conflict in eastern Ukraine and is not responsible for the escalation of the violence there.
Ukraine’s mainly Russian-speaking regions in the east have witnessed deadly clashes between pro-Russia activists and the Ukrainian army since Kyiv launched military operations to silence the pro-Russians in mid-April.
According to the latest figures by the United Nations, more than 4,000 people have been killed and over 9,300 others injured in the fighting. In addition, hundreds of thousands of people have been forced from their homes.
IA/NT/SS