Arseniy Yatsenyuk presents Action Plan "Recovery of Ukraine": a new defense doctrine, the Wall project, the status of NATO partner number one

The Government of Ukraine launches a project "The Wall" to construct a real border between Ukraine and Russia, stands for a new defense doctrine of Ukraine, in which Russia should be recognized as an aggressor country, and acquiring by Ukraine a special partner status with NATO. This was stated by Prime Minister of Ukraine Arseniy Yatsenyuk at a Government meeting on Wednesday, September 3. He presented the Action Plan "Recovery of Ukraine”.

“The war will come to end. Peace always comes after war. The peace we should be fighting for; the peace we must attain through battle. Already now we have to think what to do in the country, when peace is established, when aggression stops.”

He explained we should “avoid “reinventing the wheel”, especially, engaging in reform populism”. “The plan of reforming the country had been elaborated for seven years. It was signed by the President and the Prime Minister. This plan of reforming the country is the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the European Union. I don’t think that someone can create another more comprehensive and informative document like that.

As for the tactical steps, Arseniy Yatsenyuk said, the Government of Ukraine has set “several goals, short term and urgent objectives”, hot and vital, much needed for the state in order to stabilize the situation.

The first objective, according to the PM, is to stop the Russian military aggression and resume sovereignty of Ukraine. The second is to implement the Agreement between Ukraine and the European Union and introduce a free-visa regime between the EU and Ukraine. The third goal is “after the war – to rehabilitate and support the participants of the ATO and rebuild Donbas, that will take billions of dollars and years to come,” the Head of Government said. Other points of the Plan include decentralizing of power, a new taxation system, “to strike a blow on corruption and winning the war against corruption”.

One more separate point of the recovery plan is to overcome the winter, according to Arseniy Yatsenyuk: “Just to pass the winter through with gas, electricity, food, heating, water”.

Arseniy Yatsenyuk accentuated, the topmost objective of the Plan is to overcome the Russian aggression. “There is warfare in the East, the war that is not an internal conflict of Ukraine, the war that was unleashed and is being conducted by the Russian regime. First, Russia annexed Crimea, then they went farther and intervened the territory of the eastern Ukraine”.

"There were no real Armed Forces, when the Government came to power, neither regular troops nor efficient machinery, nor National Guard. Throughout recent six months we have restored combat readiness of the Ukrainian army, created the National Guard, threefold increased funding, improved salaries. And the whole Ukrainian economy of today works for army’s needs, [to provide with –ed.] equipment, weapons, fighting against Russian gangsters and terrorists," said the Head of Government.

He recalled that the Ukrainian side had filed claims against the Russian Federation, including the European Court of Human Rights. The total sum of losses, according to preliminary data only, makes up over 1 trillion hryvnyas. "We have launched a procedure for bringing actions against Russia in the UN International Court of Justice as they violated the Convention on the Suppression of Terrorism. Russia is a terrorist state, the aggressor state and will be answerable in compliance with international law".

Arseniy Yatsenyuk stressed that Ukraine needs a new military doctrine with “a clear definition of who is the aggressor and who poses the threat": "In the new defense doctrine Russia should be recognized as an aggressor state, the only state which threatens the territorial integrity and national security of Ukraine".

"The billions sent by us for the army’s needs should provide the military with new equipment and should be applied by the Defense Department as soon as possible", - he stressed.

"We launch the project "The Wall" - construction of a real state border infrastructure between Ukraine and the Russian Federation", - said the Head of Government.

Moreover, Arseniy Yatsenyuk reminded that the Government of Ukraine had approved a bill to abolish a non-block status of Ukraine and resume the course towards Euro-Atlantic integration: “This law should be endorsed by the Parliament”.

In addition, the Plan provides for the imposing sanctions against Russian citizens and enterprises supporting the aggression of Russia against Ukraine. Arseniy Yatsenyuk reminded that the Government had approved the bill on sanctions, and this draft law was adopted by the Parliament: "Now this law is to be signed so that the decision on the imposing sanctions against Russia came in effect".

The recovery plan envisages also to claim compensation from the Russian Federation "as an aggressor state for losses caused to the Ukrainian state".

On the eve of the NATO Summit on September 4, Arseniy Yatsenyuk emphasized that a topmost objective for Ukraine is obtaining "a special status between Ukraine and NATO”: "We believe that NATO would recognize Ukraine as a particular partner – partner number one”.