President Poroshenko told Ukrainians that the threat of full-scale invasion remained, asserting that some 50,000 Russian troops were massed on Ukraine’s eastern borders with a further 9,000 inside the self-declared rebel republics themselves.
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Poroshenko is due to meet German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande in Berlin later on Monday, where the leaders are expected to discuss ways of tackling the latest wave of refugees entering Europe and the conflict in Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko called on all political forces in the country yesterday to rally behind his plans for constitutional change aimed at ending a separatist conflict in the east and defeating what he termed the “Russian aggressor”.
“Just this week three big convoys crossed our border towards Lugansk, Donetsk and Debaltseve”, Poroshenko said, referring to rebel-controlled areas of eastern Ukraine.
Ukraine is also preparing for a parliamentary vote on August . 31 to amend its constitution and grant special status to regions in Eastern Ukraine with pro-Russian leanings, the agency reported. And speaking last week in Crimea, Russian President Vladimir Putin blamed Kyiv for fuelling the tensions.
France and Germany will preside over stakeholder talks in Berlin later about the implementation of a much-violated ceasefire deal with pro-Russian rebels in the east. Moscow denies it is providing men or arms.
“We’ve existed in the past and now – and will continue to exist”, Poroshenko said in a speech marking Ukraine’s 1991 independence following the collapse of the Soviet Union. “We must get through the 25th year of independence as if on brittle ice. The smallest careless step could be fatal”, Poroshenko said.
The parade along Kiev’s main street did not include heavy military hardware as it did previous year .
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In Donetsk, the rebels’ de facto capital, some 300 people gathered in the city centre to condemn what they called “Dependence Day”, carrying placards saying “No to Fascism!”, “Poroshenko, you have blood on your hands” and “We are against the war”, an AFP journalist saw.
