You're reading: Martial law in Ukraine plays into hands of Russia

First Deputy Head of Presidential Administration Hennadiy Zubko has said that a demand of the protesters outside the presidential administration's building to introduce martial law is beneficial for Russia.

“The martial law that you are demanding today is beneficial for Russia, because a country that introduces a martial law can’t receive a military-technical aid from any other country,” Zubko told the protesters, who gathered outside the administration’s building.

He said that now the National Security and Defense Council is gathering for the meeting on the situation.

As a correspondent of Interfax-Ukraine reported, outside the president’s building at Bankova Street that there are several hundred people, some of whom were participants in a morning rally outside the Defense Ministry.

As reported, the protesters are demanding that Defense Minister Valeriy Heletei resign and that effective help be provided to Ukrainian troops near Ilovaisk.