Slain National Guard heroes should be given combatant status – Poroshenko

18:45, 01.09.2015 1 min read

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on Tuesday will send a letter to the Cabinet requesting that the people killed in clashes outside the Verkhovna Rada on August 31 be regarded as combatants.

"The president […] said that today he will send a letter to the Ukrainian government, asking for those killed to be equated in their status with anti-terror operation [ATO] participants and their families to be provided with all payouts normally due to fallen heroes," the president's press office said after a first report by senior security and police officials about the inquiry into the August 31 events outside the parliament building.

"The head of state also insists on the immediate fulfillment of all insurance liabilities to the injured National Guard soldiers on account of their injuries, on a par with ATO participants," the spokesperson said.