Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said that war in the country could start “at any moment.” There has been a ceasefire regime in Ukraine for more than two months, but the parties almost daily accuse each other of violating it

President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko (center) during an exercise near the city of Nikolaev. Archive photo (Photo: REUTERS 2015)

Poroshenko spoke about the danger of war starting at any moment during the International Conference in Support of Ukraine, which began today in Kyiv. The event is broadcast by the Ukrainian Channel One.

“The threat of war still hangs over us. War can start at any moment, but we are ready to do everything possible so that there is no opportunity to doubt and retreat,” Poroshenko said.

At the same time, Poroshenko noted that the Minsk agreements concluded in February must be fully implemented.

During the conference, Poroshenko said that Ukraine has “huge investment potential in the agricultural sector, energy, IT industry and aviation.” Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, speaking after Poroshenko, noted that Ukraine received international aid worth $30 billion, while Greece “received $300 billion,” despite the fact that “they have no war, no Russian tanks, they don’t fight a nuclear state.”

As reported Kommersant , the conference in support of Ukraine was initially planned as a donor conference, but then the emphasis of the event was shifted and a political agenda was included. In particular, conference participants will be presented with a selection of materials on the topic of “Russia’s aggressive policy”, in which the authors come to the conclusion that the actions of the Russian side caused damage to the Ukrainian economy in the amount of 1.18 trillion hryvnia (approximately $52 billion).

In February, a truce agreement was concluded between the militias and Kiev, through the mediation of the leaders of Russia, Germany and France, according to which the parties were to withdraw heavy weapons from the contact line. However, some time after the agreement was concluded, militias and security forces began reporting regular ceasefire violations.

Poroshenko announced the threat of war “at any moment”