Poroshenko says Ukraine ready to repel military offensive from Russia

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has announced that Ukraine is ready to repel Russia in case it launches a military attack against his country. He made the statement during his trip to Donbass.

“They have been lulling us for dozens of years saying Russia is a peacekeeping nation and they were doing so with the only aim to make us unprepared for a Russian attack. But I state: such mistake will never be repeated; let Russia know that we are ready to a repulse, and we shall save nine grams of lead for everyone who comes with a sword to us,” the Ukrainian leader said in Kramatorsk.

According to him, in 2014, Moscow deployed its forces along the Ukrainian borders to have an opportunity to attack. Poroshenko said that he knows about more than 35,000 Russian troops in eastern Ukraine, 700 land battle ships, armored vehicles, artillery systems and multiple launch rocket systems delivered from Russia.

He also noted that mercenaries fighting against Kiev are being trained in Crimea, Rostov and Belgorod regions.

These bellicose statements made by Poroshenko are evidently connected with a new stage of the confrontation in south-eastern Ukraine. As EADaily reported earlier, on March 16, the Ukrainian president announced that the counter-terrorist operation (ATO) is finished and a new phase of the punitive operation in Donbass starts.