Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on September 4 gave a video interview to Myroslava Gongadze of Voice of America's Ukrainian Service in Kyiv.
Asked what kind of support Ukraine needs from the West:
Poroshenko: We are not talking about weapons or blankets, or anything like that. Our top priority is the unity of the pro-Ukrainian global coalition. This is the vital factor. Not only Ukrainian independence, sovereignty, and integrity; this is the vital factor of the global security. Because we are fighting here not only for our independence; we are fighting here for freedom, we are fighting here for democracy. And I can only confirm that we have been responsible to implement the Minsk agreement, to fight for peace, to stop the fire, to fight for our hostages. But the key factor is unity, because if [the] aggressor takes several countries from the coalition, we would be weaker. The global security would be weaker.
What is the result [of] what happened during the annexation of Crimea, in the aggression in the east of my country? Russia ruined the postwar global security system, and it is not working anymore. And now, we are working together to keep global security stronger. And, another thing which we need is solidarity movement. This united world should have solidarity. What they need for solidarity? They should trust us. And your [Western] trust for us now is very important."
Speaking about political, judiciary, and economic reforms:
Poroshenko: We have [had] a tremendous success during this period of time. We just have a new parliamentary coalition [for] less than nine months. But within these nine months we have built a new army. We defend our country. We have stopped the biggest army machine in the [European] continent [referring to the Russian military]. We have launched a huge reform. With the cooperation of the International Monetary Fund, we have delivered a very strong report about the implementation. During the war, we have cut the budget deficit. We make the state machine much more effective.
We have established an absolutely enormous program of anticorruption steps -- launching an anticorruption bureau, creating the new police, launching a new office of the prosecutors. We are launching the progress of the court reform, and this is not an easy job, believe me, to make a reform during the war. Believe me. And this is not an easy job having such a level of the military, security expenditure [and, at the same time,] to cut the budget deficit, restructuring our debt.
Asked about a new Ukrainian military doctrine and the prospects for Ukraine to become a NATO member:
Poroshenko: Look, we do not ask the permission for reform in my country. Meeting NATO criteria is absolutely the same as meeting EU membership criteria. They are together for 98 percent [98 percent identical]. NATO is now the most effective security mechanism in the world after the global security -- UN Security Council mechanism -- was ruined.
Is now the NATO membership ready to invite Ukraine? No. And we fully understand that. And the question would be simply provocative. Is Ukraine ready to ask [for] the membership? No. We do not meet the [NATO] criteria. But we have one main change: here [in the head], in the understanding of Ukraine-NATO relationship. Because more than 50 percent of Ukrainians -- first time in our history -- support the NATO membership. Very simple. And I, as a president of Ukraine, can make the decision to ask [for] the membership. I will do that immediately after a referendum.
Poroshenko says cease-fire observed for a week:
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko says that a cease-fire agreement has been observed for the first time for an entire week in eastern Ukraine, where government forces have been engaged in military conflict with Russian-backed separatists.
"Today marks the first week when there is no shooting in the battle zone. The first week when finally the Minsk agreement is being implemented," Poroshenko said in Kyiv on September 5, referring to the cease-fire deal brokered by Germany and France in the Belarusian capital in February.
Poroshenko said several people were killed or injured in different incidents, "but no one died in clashes and shelling today."
He said it gave "strong hope" that peace efforts by the Ukrainian government "provide an opportunity to build a new, effective state."
The conflict in eastern Ukraine has killed more than 6,500 people since it erupted in April 2014. (UNIAN, Interfax)