With hopes fading following unauthorised elections on November 2 that Ukraine's eastern Donbass region could be reintegrated into Ukraine, fears are rising in Kyiv that it instead could serve as a bridgehead for further Russian and rebel incursions.
"We are capable of protecting our state," Ukraine's president Petro Poroshenko told the national security and defence council at an emergency session in the evening of November 4. The security council convened in response to elections staged by rebels controlling Ukraine's eastern Donbass region that many in Kyiv fear is another step in the rebel-held region's move to Moscow's orbit.
Losing Donbass may be the least of Kyiv's worries: together with a reported spike in Russian military activity near the border with and in Ukraine, the unrecognized elections prompted fears that Donbass could become a bridgehead for new Russia aggression against Ukraine.
Poroshenko gave orders to the military top brass to prepare for the worst. "Several new units have already been formed to repel possible attacks in directions of Mariupol-Berdyansk, Kharkiv, area to the north of Luhansk and Dnipropetrovsk region," Poroshenko said, adding that three lines of fortifications around Donbass were currently under construction. "Provision of modern weapons systems and reconnaissance systems, as well as missile targeting systems has been quite effective," Poroshenko said.
Then in the small hours of November 5, Poroshenko signed a presidential decree detailing sweeping measures to strengthen Ukraine's defensive capacities, ranging from reintroducing military training in secondary schools, and increasing the share of defence spending in Ukraine's budget to 3%, to obtaining international security guarantees, along with a number of secret measures.
Complete story at - Russian news: Ukraine Shows Signs of Accepting Novorussia As an Independent Neighbor - Russia Insider
"We are capable of protecting our state," Ukraine's president Petro Poroshenko told the national security and defence council at an emergency session in the evening of November 4. The security council convened in response to elections staged by rebels controlling Ukraine's eastern Donbass region that many in Kyiv fear is another step in the rebel-held region's move to Moscow's orbit.
Losing Donbass may be the least of Kyiv's worries: together with a reported spike in Russian military activity near the border with and in Ukraine, the unrecognized elections prompted fears that Donbass could become a bridgehead for new Russia aggression against Ukraine.
Poroshenko gave orders to the military top brass to prepare for the worst. "Several new units have already been formed to repel possible attacks in directions of Mariupol-Berdyansk, Kharkiv, area to the north of Luhansk and Dnipropetrovsk region," Poroshenko said, adding that three lines of fortifications around Donbass were currently under construction. "Provision of modern weapons systems and reconnaissance systems, as well as missile targeting systems has been quite effective," Poroshenko said.
Then in the small hours of November 5, Poroshenko signed a presidential decree detailing sweeping measures to strengthen Ukraine's defensive capacities, ranging from reintroducing military training in secondary schools, and increasing the share of defence spending in Ukraine's budget to 3%, to obtaining international security guarantees, along with a number of secret measures.
Complete story at - Russian news: Ukraine Shows Signs of Accepting Novorussia As an Independent Neighbor - Russia Insider
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