A.Yatseniuk : Conflict must be solved immediately by all means and methods, but above all in a peaceful way

Ukrainian Armed Forces are engaged in the protection of their own staff, their own military units located at their home bases and yielded to no provocation, which took place recently, Prime Minister of Ukraine Yatseniuk said at a briefing in the Parliament on Sunday.

He said that there had been a series of provocations recently, "which might, in the opinion of the Russian military, have intended the legalization of the Russian armed troops on the territory of the Autonomy”.

According to him, last night the commander of the Naval Forces of Ukraine informed that "virtually every half-hour Russia represented by the Black Sea fleet and the troops, which is now on the territory of the Autonomy, was trying to provoke into an armed conflict."

"We believe that this conflict should be solved without delay by all means and methods, and above all – in a peaceful way," the Prime Minister said.

"We are trying to settle this crisis at the current stage by political and diplomatic means," said Yatseniuk and stressed that this involved all tools.

He said that for the last 24 hours he had held several talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso, European Council President Herman Van Rompuy, and a number of foreign ministers, as well as the Foreign Minister of Ukraine: "All the countries are not merely expressing concern, but have also made tough statements and assessments of the Russian Federation’s actions on the territory of Ukraine ", he emphasized.

A. Yatseniuk reminded that a meeting of the UN Security Council on Ukraine had been held. "We keep on drawing all international organizations, starting from the UN and ending with the OSCE, the Council of Europe, NATO, the EU foreign ministers", said the Prime Minister.

"Our task now is to take all measures to peacefully solve the armed conflict, triggered by the Russian Federation without any reasons on the territory of Ukraine ", Yatseniuk underlined.