Poroshenko speaks in Munich

MUNICH – Speaking on February 7 after U.S. Vice-President Joe Biden at the Munich Security Conference, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko reiterated charges that Russia is deeply involved in the fighting in eastern Ukraine and urged European countries to support Kyiv. Mr. Poroshenko said Ukraine’s “once friendly neighbor” Russia had broken international law “and taken a part of our territory,” a reference to Moscow’s annexation of Crimea. He said Russia had provided military equipment and hardware to pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine and that Russian troops were in the rebel-held regions. Mr. Poroshenko held up several red passports and military IDs that he said were taken from Russian soldiers and officers fighting in Ukraine and said they were proof of Moscow’s presence in his country. “This is the best evidence for the aggression and for the presence of Russian troops,” he said. “[Although Russian officials] hold a lot of press conferences demonstrating [how] the Russian soldiers and officers who ‘lost their way,’ 100 kilometers away from the border with full tanks of ammunition, killing my soldiers and killing Ukrainian civilians,” Mr. Poroshenko said sarcastically. The Ukrainian president addressed concerns expressed by some European Union countries in recent days about supplying Ukraine with arms. “I know that many experts have argued that enhancing our military will provoke further aggression,” he said. “On the contrary, we have seen that the lack of defense capabilities triggers offensive operations against Ukraine and [increases] the escalation [of the fighting].” Mr. Poroshenko added that “the stronger our defense, the more convincing is our diplomatic voice.” (RFE/RL, with reporting by Reuters and Interfax)