Private creditors should restructure Ukraine's debt and by doing so they will help Ukrainians, Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatseniuk has said.

"Our position remains changed: debts to private creditors are to be restructured," he told reporters in Washington after a meeting with International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Christine Lagarde, the press service of the Cabinet of Ministers has reported.

Yatseniuk said that the large funds received by Ukraine from the EU and the United States are investments to aid Ukraine in fighting against Russian aggression.

The funds of private creditors are to be restructured, and this would be their contribution to the Ukrainian nation, he said.

He said the restructuring of Ukraine's debts to foreign creditors was discussed during his working visit to Washington.

He also said that Ukraine spends the same sum on servicing foreign debts as former President Viktor Yanukovych did on national security and defense – 5% of GDP.

Yatseniuk said that Ukraine presented its conditions and proposals to private creditors. Ukraine hopes that they will support the country, he said.

The position of the IMF, the U.S. Department of Treasury and the U.S. government is that each creditor should make their own contribution in helping Ukraine, he said.

Yatseniuk said that the proposals made to private creditors by the Ukrainian government are acceptable from the point of view of quotations of Ukrainian notes and are in line with the market level, and the fact that Ukraine is in a situation that cannot be compared with any other – Ukraine is in a state of war with the nuclear state – Russia.

There is no other way than to accept the conditions proposed by the Ukrainian government: restructure the debts and allow the country to pass this difficult economic situation, the prime minister said.