ATO participants to have no problems with obtaining combatant status - Poroshenko

13:43, 15.10.2014 1 min read

Ukrainian soldiers who take part in the anti-terrorist operations (ATO) in Donbas will without delay receive the status of combatants, President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko said noting that there were cases of abuse in this matter.

"These real Ukrainian heroes – anti-terrorist operation fighters will have no obstacles in confirming their status of combatants without any red tape," Poroshenko said in Zaporizhia.

However, the president noted that he was aware of cases of "the abuse of the procedure of obtaining a status of an anti-terrorist operation participant."

Poroshenko told a story of some 2,177 people who applied for the status of ATO participants claiming to be part of a 371-strong battalion.