Independent presidential candidate Petro Poroshenko said on Friday that efficient armed forces and the "unity of Ukraine from Uzhgorod to Luhansk" would be his top objectives if he won the May 25 election.

"It will be my first move to go to the Ukrainian military, to go to the central command post of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and achieve effective interaction of our forces so they are able to defend the country," Poroshenko said at a meeting at a factory in Novohrad-Volynsky in northern Ukraine.

The armed forces must be mobile and efficient, with their personnel "well-fed," their vehicles supplied with enough fuel and charged batteries, and their weapons working flawlessly "so that everyone knows that anyone who barges in here will get a good drubbing - sorry for the non-parliamentary phrase," the candidate said.

"My second move would be a trip to the east [of Ukraine]. I'll have meetings in Donetsk, meetings in Luhansk. Because the unity of Ukraine, the unity of our team, the Ukrainian people, the unity of Ukraine from Uzhgorod to Luhansk must be the top priority for those in authority," he said.