President at the UN General Assembly: Donbas literally became a production line for Russia’s killing machine

During the speech at the United Nations General Assembly Debate on agenda item 67 “The situation in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine”, President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko informed the world community of the military threat for Ukraine, Russia has deployed in the temporarily occupied territories of Donbas and Crimea. The Head of State noted: “The Kremlin continues to deny any involvement of the Russian military in the war in Donbas, despite the overwhelming evidence proving the opposite”.

The President emphasized that Moscow had been sending its regular military forces and proxies to Donbas for already 5 years.

The Head of State noted: “Donbas literally became a production line for Russia’s killing machine. As cynical as it is, they even send their young military cadets to Donbas to get practice in the battlefield. In mothers’ place, I would ask Russian president where their sons are?”.

The President underscored that there was neither so-called “crisis in Ukraine” nor “internal conflict in Ukraine”, but an ongoing military occupation and armed aggression by Russia against Ukraine.

The Head of State emphasized that the report of the ICC leading prosecutor had recognized conflict in Crimea and Donbas as armed conflict between Russia and Ukraine, and Russia’s attempted annexation of Crimea as an ongoing state of occupation.

“It’s truly mind-boggling that even after all these decisions the Russian Federation is still trying to present itself as a peaceful state that fully implements its obligations under the UN Charter. There are no so-called “de-facto authorities” but the Russian occupation administration in the temporarily occupied territories of Donbas and Crimea, as well as Russian state bodies and agencies, which are in charge of administering these occupied territories,” Petro Poroshenko said.

“There are no rebels but Russian regular armed forces under the Defense Ministry and formations of special and secret services. There are no insurgents but Russian advisors, instructors, irregular illegal armed groups created, equipped, funded and controlled by Russia,” the Head of State noted.

Petro Poroshenko cited figures indicating a military threat to Ukraine by the Russian Federation. According to the President, by February 2019, in the occupied Crimea Russia has deployed up to 32.5 thousand military personnel, 88 artillery systems, 52 multiple launch rocket systems, 372 armored combat vehicles, 113 warplanes, 62 combat helicopters, as well as 6 combat ships and 6 submarine ships equipped with sea launch cruise missiles “Caliber”.

The President does not exclude eventual deployment of nuclear weapons in the peninsula. “The infrastructure is already there, and Russia has used the past five years to restore and modernize it. Thus, we are witnessing an unprecedented militarization of the Black Sea area,” Petro Poroshenko added. He emphasized that Russia was changing the strategic balance in the region and well beyond its borders turning Crimea into a launch pad for its missiles.

According to the President, In Donbas, Russian armed formations have 496 tanks. “Please know that this number is bigger than that of Germany or France, Spain or Italy. And it is Ukraine who contains this Russian force, that also has 938 armored combat vehicles, 128 Multiple Launch Rocket System, 776 artillery systems, including self-propelled ones. It makes Ukraine a true Eastern flank of NATO in defense of trans-Atlantic freedom and democracy,” Petro Poroshenko said.

According to the Head of State, the overall number of illegal armed formations stands now at around 35 thousand militants, along with 2 100 servicemen from Russian regular armed forces. The total number of the Russian armed forces along the Russian-Ukrainian border is over 87 thousand military.