Translated by Ollie Richardson

18:01:48
13/06/2017

vesti-ukr.com

The Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine Aleksandr Turchynov stated that in Ukraine it is necessary to finish the anti-terrorist operation and to move on to a new format of defence of the country against the hybrid war of the Russian Federation.

“Hostilities in the east of our country have lasted already for three years and have outgrown the ATO format both in duration and scale. At the same time, it should be noted that the anti-terrorist operation completed many crucial tasks. It is within the ATO that we stopped the aggressor, managed to hold presidential, parliamentary and local elections, and liberated a significant part of the occupied territory of Ukraine. However, the time has come to switch to the new format of defending the country,” stated the Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council in an interview to Interfax Ukraine.

According to him, the current Ukrainian legislation provides two main cases when the combat use of the Armed Forces is allowed – declaration of war and an anti-terrorist operation.

“It’s time not only to recognize some areas of Donetsk and Lugansk regions as occupied, but to outline at the legislative level the basis of the state policy for their liberation. An effective technology of protecting the country is needed. To this end, it is necessary to give the president the right to use the army and other military formations against the hybrid aggression by Russian Federation,” said Turchynov.

He also noted that it is necessary to create an operational headquarters that is constantly working in the conflict zone, which has large powers for integrated management of the UAF, all law enforcement structures, and also military-civil authorities.

As a reminder, it is exactly Turchynov who signed in the spring of 2014 the decree on the beginning of the Anti-terrorist operation in the East of Ukraine.

Earlier it was reported that Turchynov, during a visit to positions of the Ukrainian military personnel in the anti-terrorist operation zone, as a joke stated that military operations will come to an end with the capture of Moscow.

Also, Turchynov, in his congratulatory message in honor of the Day of the Border Guard, stated that for Ukraine it is important to create an “insuperable fortress” on the eastern border.

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