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Russia Threat High With Troops at Border, Ukraine President Says

Russia Threat High With Troops at Border, Ukraine President Says

(Bloomberg) -- Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko says that his country still faces threat of Russian invasion and there has been no de-escalation after recent flare-up.

“The lion’s share of Russian troops remain” near the country’s border with Ukraine, Poroshenko told journalists Sunday at a press conference in the capital, Kiev. “Unfortunately, less than 10 percent were withdrawn. As of now, the threat of Russian troops invading remains. We have to be ready for this, we won’t allow a repeat of 2014.”

Russia Threat High With Troops at Border, Ukraine President Says

Poroshenko partially imposed martial law on Nov. 26 after the latest escalation between Ukraine and Russia occurred off the coast of Crimea, the peninsula Russia annexed in 2014. Russia also stoked a military conflict in Ukraine’s two easternmost regions that killed more than 10,000 people, sending its relations with the European Union and the U.S. to levels not seen since the Cold War.

If there is no Russian invasion, Poroshenko said he will end martial law on Dec. 26 and the temporarily suspended presidential campaign will kick off.

While declining to announce whether he will seek a second term in the office, Poroshenko said that Ukraine should achieve peace, overcome the consequences of its economic crisis and to meet criteria to join the EU and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization during next five years.

To contact the reporters on this story: Daryna Krasnolutska in Kiev at dkrasnolutsk@bloomberg.net;Kateryna Choursina in Kiev at kchoursina@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Balazs Penz at bpenz@bloomberg.net, Ross Larsen

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