Ukraine needs help from western countries to improve it's military capacity, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has said.

"I have been always said this and will say this again: Ukraine wants peace. But peace must be protected, for that purpose we need a strong army with new modern weaponry. It will help us to protect the civilian population against intensive terrorist attacks. Militants from 'DNR/LNR' receive their modern armaments from the Russian Federation," he said in an interview with Die Welt, a German newspaper.

According to the head of state, 5,000-9,000 Russian troops and a large number of Russian military equipment are in Donbas, in areas not controlled by the Ukrainian military. He said NATO and the United States know this. "Often, the Russian military acts as a second echelon, when they change [into the] uniforms of the 'DNR/LNR'. Every day we receive new evidence of the presence of Russian troops," he stressed.

In particular, when Ukrainian forces take an enemy prisoner, they find Russian documents in the military machinery they've left behind, and destroyed tanks which were produced in Russia.

The president said it is difficult to control the number of multiple rocket launcher systems since their number constantly changes as Ukrainian forces have lost control of several hundreds kilometers of the border with Russia.

The president believes that Euro-Atlantic security system is now in danger because of Russian aggression.

"We are still in need of military, technical and professional aid to improve the military efficiency of the Ukrainian army, in light of Russia aggression," the president added.