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Ukraine’s Armed Forces, National Police, and the Territorial Self-Defense are working perfectly to maintain Ukrainian territory under its control and to repel the Russian forces. Mykhailo Podoliak, the adviser to the head of the President’s Office at a briefing on February 25.
“If we compare the military potentials of Ukraine and Russia, we are very effective. Our enemies want to succeed in performing the key task – to capture Kyiv and the main cities of the east and south of the country. We feel their plans and the leadership of the Armed Forces understands this,” he said.
According to Podoliak, the tactics used by the Russian armed forces today are partly reminiscent of terrorist methods of shelling residential neighborhoods, and today they have even started shelling kindergartens.
“War crimes, which, unfortunately, are taking place today, must receive a strict legal assessment,” he said.
The adviser to the head of the President’s Office once again stressed that the hostile forces will not be able to implement its plans to eliminate the leadership of the Ukrainian state and create chaos in the country. He confirmed that President Volodymyr Zelensky is in Kyiv and is effectively leading the state and defense.
“Yesterday, the day before yesterday, today he works around the clock. He has regular meetings with other leaders of the country – the Cabinet of Ministers, MPs, as well as regular consultations with world leaders. The President is aware of everything that is happening in the country and makes operational decisions on governing the country,” he said.
Podoliak also said that currently, the most difficult situation is in the Kharkiv direction, in the Sumy region and in the south of the country, where clashes between the Armed Forces and Russian troops take place.
He also said that according to preliminary data, more than a thousand servicemen of the aggressor country were killed this afternoon, which is quite a large number.
“Today we are negotiating with world leaders in order to create a fund of support for our armed forces by our partners,” said Mykhailo Podoliak.
In turn, Prime Minister Denys Shmygal spoke about an extraordinary meeting of the Government, which adopted a number of necessary decisions to ensure the army, stable operation of hospitals, and critical infrastructure during martial law.
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In particular, the State Treasury Service together with the Ministry of Finance will redistribute funds to strengthen national security and defense, the necessary priority measures, and payments.
“The government has decided to make state domestic borrowings in the amount of up to UAH 400 billion (13 million USD) through the gradual issuance of military bonds,” he said.
“Ports of Ukraine are moving to increased security mode,” he added.
Temporary cessation of exports of blood products has also been introduced, and the Ministry of Health will approve the scope of mandatory provision of health care needs with donated blood and blood products.
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PM Shmygal also called on international partners to unite and stop the aggressor and his war against Ukraine.
“We call on all civilized countries to impose an embargo on Russian oil products, ban Russian citizens from entering your territory and disconnect Russia from SWIFT. We call on NATO, Europe, the United States to close the skies over Russia – this will not mean your military confrontation with Russia, but it will mean that you have stopped the war and your descendants will remember you as heroes. We, in turn, will continue to defend our own land, we will not give up and we will destroy our enemies,” the Prime Minister stressed.
