Ukraine is breaking all the fetters that connect it with the Russian Empire, with the Soviet Union, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has said.

"The main thing, my dear Ukrainians, we have chosen our own path of development and we have no right to change it in order to please our external enemies and their agents inside the country ... We are breaking all the fetters that bind us to the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union," the head of state said, speaking at a military parade in the center of Kyiv on the occasion of the 27th anniversary of Ukraine's independence on Friday.

Poroshenko stressed that the main task of the authorities and the current generation is to make independence irreversible, to turn Ukraine into a great and strong country, "without any prospect of returning to the zone of Russian influence."

"Ukraine must rely on its own strength and firmly defend its national interests. We must strengthen the country's independence with specific steps ... ," the president stressed.