The visa-free regime between Ukraine and the European Union and the entry into force of the Association Agreement with the EU on September 1 will be the final evidence of a break with Russia, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said.

"In a week, on September 1, the agreement will come into force and become a roadmap for reforms, and we have one road – a wide Euro-Atlantic highway that leads to a membership in the European Union and NATO," the president said speaking at a military parade in Kyiv on the occasion of the Independence Day of Ukraine.

He stressed Ukrainians received the well-deserved right to travel to the countries of the European Union without visas. "The Association Agreement and the visa-free travel are the most convincing evidence of our final - de facto and de jure - break with the empire, with the one that [U.S. President] Ronald Reagan once called the evil empire," Poroshenko said.

"I hope that U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis, who is present here, will confirm the correctness of the quotation, and we, Ukrainians, can vouch for the accuracy of the definition, because we've learnt this the hard way," the head of state summed up.