On Thursday, in the course of the meeting with members of the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations, Oleksandr Turchynov said that the Ukrainian citizens on Maidan have defended their right to live in a free and democratic state. “They want to independently determine the way of our country’s development. This is the way to civilization and Europe; the way that aims at development of a powerful and democratic state,” he stressed.
However, noted the Chairman of the Parliament, the Russian Federation is against such a decision of Ukrainians. “Its leadership dreams of building a new Post-Soviet empire,” he added. The Chairman expressed conviction that Ukraine “will never return to the Post-Soviet neo-empire despite of attractive titles and slogans of those who build this doomed project.”
He noted that Russia has actually declared a war against Ukraine, since occupation of Crimea continues and there are attempts to kindle fire of separatism in the east and south of the state. At the same time, Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada emphasized that they managed to extinguish fire in Kherson, Odesa, Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhzhia and Mykolaiv Oblasts.
“There is a fierce war against our country. Occupants do not believe in God and that is why they leave a trail of blood on our land,” said Oleksandr Turchynov. He informed about a terrorist attack against a roadblock, 48 km away from Donetsk, as a result of which 13 Ukrainian military men died.
The participants of the meeting honored memory of the deceased with a moment of silence.