Arseniy Yatsenyuk in Berlin: Ukraine needs defensive capability to stop Russia-led terrorists from further offensive

"The diplomatic, political, financial and economic means of resolving the Donbas conflict must be backed up by the Ukrainian military's defensive capabilities," Prime Minister of Ukraine Arseniy Yatsenyuk stated at the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS) foundation in Berlin on Wednesday, April 1.

The Prime Minister of Ukraine stressed that the Minsk deal is the only agreement that remains "on the table".

At the same time, he stressed that the Russia-backed terrorists were attempting to strengthen their army "and they get additional lethal weapons, new tanks, artillery systems from Russia, we are aware that they want to buy time."

According to Arseniy Yatsenyuk, this is why Ukraine called on its Western partners to provide it with defensive weapons - "not for offensive operations": "We need the sufficient capability in order to stop Russia-led terrorists from a further offensive."

"We are well aware that a military solution is obviously not the best. We want to resolve this conflict by diplomatic, political, financial and economic means. However, these means should be supported by the defensive capability of the Ukrainian army," Arseniy Yatsenyuk underlined.

He underlined that, according to Ukraine’s data, there are now about 30 thousand Russia-led terrorists and Russian regular troops, as well as hundreds of new Russian tanks, in eastern Ukraine.

"Concerted action by the U.S., the EU, G7 member states and by Ukraine are needed to de-escalate the situation, to stop Russia and restore international law and order in Europe," Arseniy Yatseniuk emphasized.