You're reading: Poroshenko downplays military options in Russia’s war against Ukraine

 Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said on Sept. 12 that the nation will win Crimea back from Russia not through military force, but by building a better society than Russia.

“We will win a democratic, economic, liberal competition for
the minds of the Crimea people,” Poroshenko told the Yalta European Strategy
conference, the 11th annual event sponsored by billionaire Victor
Pinchuk. The three-day even is being held in Kyiv this year because of Russia’s
annexation of Crimea, including Yalta’s Livadia Palace, the traditional venue.

Later, during a question-and-answer session, Poroshenko echoed European Parliament President Martin Schulz’s view that there is “no
military solution,” even though it is just such a solution that Russia has been trying to impose on Ukraine since its Feb. 27 invasion of Crimea and subsequent backing of separatists in Ukraine’s eastern regions during the last six months.

Poroshenko called this “one of the most challenging and dangerous periods in the history of Ukraine,” but said that he would try to find a peaceful solution that does not involve “compromise on the territorial integrity” of the nation.

Poroshenko said the same non-military approach – winning the hearts and
minds of two million Crimeans – will also work in the Donetsk and Luhansk
oblasts of Ukraine, where Russia is backing a separatist war that has killed
more than 3,000 people, including soldiers and civilians.

 The president said Ukraine will build an effective,
democratic and “not corrupt” state, Poroshenko said. “We will be democratic and
we will be free. The standard of freedom in Ukraine outside of the
administrative border of Crimea will be much better; this is the only way we
can win in the fight for the minds of Crimea.”

Poroshenko praised the European Union decision to impose new
economic sanctions today against Russia. “They demonstrate that Ukraine is now
their top priority.”

He also said next week is a pivotal one for Ukraine, with a
Sept. 16 synchronized approval of the EU-Ukraine association agreement in the
European Parliament in Brussels and the Verkhovna Rada in Kyiv. The voting will
be broadcast by video link in both capitals, with voting taking place at the
same moment.

Poroshenko also signaled he would push for an invitation
from the EU for full membership, suggesting it would be “unpolite” for the
28-nation bloc to not make such an offer considering all that Ukraine has been
through. Later, he said the EU would not be whole without Ukraine and that,
with Ukraine as an EU member, Europea will be “stronger from a security point
of view.”

Two days later, on Sept. 18, Poroshenko will address a joint
session of the U.S. Congress and meet with U.S. President Barack Obama.

Poroshenko also said that he hopes that NATO grants Ukraine
the status as major non-member ally.

“It’s of crucial importance for us,” Poroshenko said. “Our
European and trans-Atlantic partners that Ukrainians are not fighting for the territorial
independence of Ukraine. It is fighting for global security. We need to
introduce a new security structure in this very dangerous world.’

At the same time, Poroshenko said Ukraine will embark on a
reform program to end corruption simultaneously to seeking peace with Russia.

 “The fight against corruption is absolutely the same
importance as the fight for peace. This is like a cancer that has paralyzed
Ukraine,” Poroshenko said.

When challenged during a question-and-answer by Dragon
Capital head Tomas Fiala on the slow pace of the anti-corruption fight,
Poroshenko said that – despite the EuroMaidan Revolution – Ukraine is saddled
with the old rules and and old parliament. That is why he called for new
parliamentary elections on Oct. 26, the president said.

“Investors will come when they feel safe in the country,”
Poroshenko said. “The investors are not going to a country that are in a state
of war.”

In particular, Poroshenko called for reform of Ukraine’s
secretive and corrupt court system to make investment safe.

In his speech, Poroshenko said that Ukrainians are united as
never before.  “We have no military
solution to this crisis,” he said.

“What we have now is absolutely new Ukrainian army, security
forces and heroes who demonstrated that even in this difficult times we can
effectively defend our values. We are defending our values; and that is why we
are stronger than anybody else,” he said.

Poroshenko addressed skeptics about the peace agreement
reached in Minsk on Sept. 5. He said the deal can work.

“Only a few of you can believe that we can establish a
fragile peace,” he said. “From day to day, more people believe we will be
successful in this important way. Even now, not everybody understands the
positive thing to have possibility not to receive every night the news about
death of Ukrainian solders and civilians, when dozens of Ukrainan heroes are
giving their lives. That’s why this is very important for us Ukrainians to be
together. We can win only when we will be united.”

The president said that “Ukraine is as united as never
before. You can absolutely understand and see that. This is another reason I am
proud to be Ukrainian and I am proud to be the president of this beautiful
country.”

 Kyiv Post chief editor Brian Bonner can be reached at [email protected].