Ukraine will defend its independence by political and diplomatic means, but army ready to rebuff - Gerashchenko

16:28, 18.02.2017 1 min read

First Deputy Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada Iryna Gerashchenko has stated the key issue for Europe and the United States remain steps toward Russia, while Ukraine will defend its sovereignty and independence using political and diplomatic means.

"Do we know what to do with Russia? We will defend our independence and sovereignty by all available means, first and foremost, political and diplomatic, of course, but our army is ready to rebuff. Now is February 2017 but not 2014, our army and our country have changed. Whether the EU, the United States, the world know what to do with the Russian Federation? This is the key issue," she wrote on her Facebook page, commenting on the Munich Security Conference.

Gerashchenko noted the key message in Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko's speech at the conference was not only the situation in Ukraine, but first of all Russia as a major factor of destabilization and danger, aggression and violation of international law in the European continent.