Poroshenko not ready to compromise on Crimea and Donbas

"Crimea is Ukrainian. Donbas is Ukrainian. And no compromises are possible in this issue," the Head of State said in an interview to Ukrainian TV channels, the President’s press service reports.

At the same time, the Head of State acknowledged that various formats of negotiations with the Russian Federation on peace were possible, but at the same time, the stance of Ukraine must not be weak.

Poroshenko also said that the liberation of Crimea remained his top priority.

"I want to say that my first priority, immediately after the elections, will be the Crimean issue. I am grateful to Crimeans. I am grateful to the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People, Mustafa Dzhemilev, Akhtem Chiygoz, Refat Chubarov, who have supported me. And for me, this issue is fundamental," the Head of State said.

"We do not intend to trade Crimea, as someone does. We are not going to say that Crimea is something to be addressed later. Crimea will be one of the first items on the agenda," the President said.

According to him, there is a multinational platform for the de-occupation of Crimea, and many countries are the participants in this platform. It was created, inter alia, in the format of the UN General Assembly and has a number of directions, primarily, the sanctions.

"Do not believe anyone who says that sanctions are inefficient. Sanctions over Crimea, Donbas sanctions, the Kerch Strait, sanctions, sanctions... This is the price Russia pays for the aggression against Ukraine," Poroshenko underscored.

He noted that according to Bloomberg, the losses of the Russian economy amounted to USD 150 billion, more than 10% of GDP of Russia. Sharp decline in living standards is observed in the country.

Petro Poroshenko stressed that Ukraine would manage to return its territories particularly through sanctions, court decisions, the UN International Court of Justice, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, the stance to protect the investments and make Russia pay huge, multibillion-dollar fines for seizing foreign investments.

"And the coordination group set up in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Government of Ukraine clearly, step by step, counters Russia, motivating it to liberate Crimea," he said.

The President also noted that the deployment of the UN peacekeeping mission would be a step towards restoration of Ukraine’s sovereignty and liberation of Ukrainian Donbas and Crimea: “Peacekeepers are a classical mission that must be deployed on the entire occupied territory, including the uncontrolled section of the Ukrainian-Russian border. And only this can be a model for returning peace to Donbas. Only this may be the first step for the de-occupation of Donbas."

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