UKRAINE-CRISIS/POROSHENKO Border control, Russian troop pullout are key aims for peace - Ukraine's Poroshenko

Record ID: 140025

  • Title: UKRAINE-CRISIS/POROSHENKO Border control, Russian troop pullout are key aims for peace - Ukraine's Poroshenko
  • Date: 11th September 2015
  • Summary: KIEV, UKRAINE (SEPTEMBER 11, 2015) (REUTERS) INTERIOR OF HALL UKRAINE PRESIDENT PETRO POROSHENKO APPROACHING STAND (SOUNDBITE) (English) UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT, PETRO POROSHENKO, SAYING: "Now, it's high time to discuss the possibility to deploy an operation in the Donbass to support due implementation of the Minsk agreement. It can help us to achieve two key objectives for restoring peace in Donetsk and Luhansk regions: full withdrawal of the occupation forces, of the Russian forces from Ukrainian territory and closed Ukrainian-Russian border." FORUM GUESTS LISTENING (SOUNDBITE) (English) UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT, PETRO POROSHENKO, SAYING: "No one single Russian soldier, no one single Russian tank returned back to Russia, unfortunately. Our intelligence services together with our satellite intelligence supported and confirmed by our NATO, by our transatlantic partners confirm that we have a place inside where the observers and monitors from the special monitoring mission of the OSCE simply not allowed to enter." FORUM GUESTS LISTENING (SOUNDBITE) (English) UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT, PETRO POROSHENKO, SAYING: "We know exactly where its situated: Russian tanks, Russian artillery and Russian multi-rocket launch systems and Russian missiles and - even more importantly - the Russian soldiers. They simply stop shooting." VARIOUS OF FORUM GUESTS GATHERING FOR FAMILY PHOTO OUTSIDE BUILDING
  • Embargoed: 26th September 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Ukraine
  • Country: Ukraine
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVABWCWQBZELZVIAX4H20QE3M20P
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Ukraine will seek re-establishment of its control of the border with Russia and the pullout of Russian troops from its eastern regions.
    Speaking to an international audience in Kiev on Friday (September 11), Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko signalled this would be his main objective during a meeting with Russian, German and French leaders in Paris on Oct. 2.
    "Now, it's high time to discuss the possibility to deploy an operation in the Donbass to support due implementation of the Minsk agreement. It can help us to achieve two key objectives for restoring peace in Donetsk and Luhansk regions: full withdrawal of the occupation forces, of the Russian forces from Ukrainian territory and closed Ukrainian-Russian border," he said.
    Violence in eastern Ukraine, where government forces and separatists confront each other, has mostly subsided since Sept. 1 under a ceasefire agreed in Minsk.
    But a Kiev military spokesman said on Thursday (September 10) that an estimated 30,000 Russian troops and 10,000 separatist fighters remained in the eastern Donbass region. Moscow denies that its troops are engaged there.
    Poroshenko said Ukraine was concerned that OSCE monitors were being denied access to sensitive areas on the joint border between Russia and Ukraine where they could track troop pullouts and the withdrawal of heavy weapons from front lines.
    "No one single Russian soldier, no one single Russian tank returned back to Russia, unfortunately. Our intelligence services together with our satellite intelligence supported and confirmed by our NATO, by our transatlantic partners confirm that we have a place inside where the observers and monitors from the special monitoring mission of the OSCE simply not allowed to enter," Poroshenko said.
    "We know exactly where its situated: Russian tanks, Russian artillery and Russian multi-rocket launch systems and Russian missiles and - even more importantly - the Russian soldiers. They simply stop shooting," he added.
    The Ukrainian president has come under fire at home from some political allies for appearing to concede too much to pro-Russian separatists under a peace agreement brokered by the four powers in Minsk, Belarus.
    The separatist rebellion erupted in April 2014 after Russia annexed Crimea in response to the toppling of a pro-Moscow president in Kiev by street protests, and the succession of a Western-oriented leadership under Poroshenko.
    About 8,000 people are estimated to have been killed and several thousands wounded in the conflict, according to U.N. Human Rights Office figures.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register