Tymoshenko insists on referendum on membership in NATO

Whether or not Ukraine should join the European Union and NATO must be decided by the people in a national referendum, said leader of the Batkivschyna Party, Ukrainian presidential candidate Yulia Tymoshenko.

"Now that each Ukrainian family lives in grim anticipation of a war, and our army is not strong enough to defend our borders, we must seek and find difficult, but effective decisions on how peace can be brought back to Ukraine. Ukraine's membership in the European Union and NATO could be such a decision," Tymoshenko said in a statement, posted on her official website.

This would be "a civilized choice" for Ukraine, she said.

"This choice cannot be made singlehandedly by one politician. It is the Ukrainian people's exclusive right to decide on this. Therefore, I propose urgently holding a referendum on these issues," Tymoshenko said.

She said her rival Petro Poroshenko "is making a big mistake by rejecting NATO without asking the Ukrainian people about how they want to defend themselves." "It is an instance of disregard for the principles of democracy," she added.

"We can support the democratic values precisely in a national referendum on membership in the EU and NATO," she said.

Poroshenko earlier said that a referendum on Ukraine's membership in NATO "will not guarantee unity at this stage" and that holding it would be a mistake. He also said that if most citizens vote against membership in NATO, this prospect will be closed for many years.

But he backed the idea of holding a referendum on Ukraine's membership in the EU which, he said, will unite the state. Most polls indicate that a majority of Ukrainians support Ukraine's accession to the European Union, Poroshenko said.