Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has said that while Ukraine has made significant achievements towards resolving the situation in Donbas, its troops must be in permanent readiness.
“The results we achieved over the past year give me reasons for optimism. We are strong, we have learnt to win, to win on battlefield, to win in diplomatic clashes. And yesterday the decision to cancel the fake elections on October 18 and November 1 averted the biggest threat that was looming over the Minsk agreements,” the president said at the Military Academy of the Taras Shevchenko National University in Kyiv on Oct. 7.
At the same time, he urged Ukrainian military servicemen to be in permanent readiness, given that the threat of an escalation remains. “This demonstrates that we can, know how to and will act efficiently, this is our new reality, but my order to all troops: do not relax. The victory is still a long way off,” the president said.
Ukrainian troops will remain in Donbas and carry out their duty there, he said. “I know that psychologically standing sentinel day in, day out is sometimes much more difficult than fighting. I myself stood guard but I am certain that a long silence can be more stressful than an endless cannonade and that standing still relatively safely is sometimes more difficult than looking for trouble, going on the offensive,” Poroshenko said.
The head of state stressed that truce and peace in the region can only be guaranteed by a reliable Ukrainian army with a high level of discipline and moral spirit.
