Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on September 4 gave a video interview to Myroslava Gongadze of Voice of America's Ukrainian Service in Kyiv.
Asked what kind of support Ukraine needs from the West:
Poroshenko: We are not talking about weapons or blankets, or anything like that. Our top priority is the unity of the pro-Ukrainian global coalition. This is the vital factor. Not only Ukrainian independence, sovereignty, and integrity; this is the vital factor of the global security. Because we are fighting here not only for our independence; we are fighting here for freedom, we are fighting here for democracy. And I can only confirm that we have been responsible to implement the Minsk agreement, to fight for peace, to stop the fire, to fight for our hostages. But the key factor is unity, because if [the] aggressor takes several countries from the coalition, we would be weaker. The global security would be weaker.
What is the result [of] what happened during the annexation of Crimea, in the aggression in the east of my country? Russia ruined the postwar global security system, and it is not working anymore. And now, we are working together to keep global security stronger. And, another thing which we need is solidarity movement. This united world should have solidarity. What they need for solidarity? They should trust us. And your [Western] trust for us now is very important."
Speaking about political, judiciary, and economic reforms:
Poroshenko: We have [had] a tremendous success during this period of time. We just have a new parliamentary coalition [for] less than nine months. But within these nine months we have built a new army. We defend our country. We have stopped the biggest army machine in the [European] continent [referring to the Russian military]. We have launched a huge reform. With the cooperation of the International Monetary Fund, we have delivered a very strong report about the implementation. During the war, we have cut the budget deficit. We make the state machine much more effective.
We have established an absolutely enormous program of anticorruption steps -- launching an anticorruption bureau, creating the new police, launching a new office of the prosecutors. We are launching the progress of the court reform, and this is not an easy job, believe me, to make a reform during the war. Believe me. And this is not an easy job having such a level of the military, security expenditure [and, at the same time,] to cut the budget deficit, restructuring our debt.
Asked about a new Ukrainian military doctrine and the prospects for Ukraine to become a NATO member:
Poroshenko: Look, we do not ask the permission for reform in my country. Meeting NATO criteria is absolutely the same as meeting EU membership criteria. They are together for 98 percent [98 percent identical]. NATO is now the most effective security mechanism in the world after the global security -- UN Security Council mechanism -- was ruined.
Is now the NATO membership ready to invite Ukraine? No. And we fully understand that. And the question would be simply provocative. Is Ukraine ready to ask [for] the membership? No. We do not meet the [NATO] criteria. But we have one main change: here [in the head], in the understanding of Ukraine-NATO relationship. Because more than 50 percent of Ukrainians -- first time in our history -- support the NATO membership. Very simple. And I, as a president of Ukraine, can make the decision to ask [for] the membership. I will do that immediately after a referendum.
This ends our live-blogging for September 5. Be sure to check back tomorrow for our continuing coverage.
German film portrays Ukraine conflict through local voices
By Anna Rzhevkina
GDANSK, Poland, Sept 6 (Reuters) - German film director Georg Genoux went as a volunteer to eastern Ukrainian city of Mykolaivka last November to film ordinary people talking about the Ukraine conflict and to help the city destroyed by shelling.
Based on his interviews with local residents, Genoux created "Fear in Ukraine", shown at the Sopot non-fiction Festival of Documentary Theatre in northern Poland that ended this weekend.
More than 6,500 people have been killed in the east since pro-Russian separatists rebelled against the Kiev government after Russia annexed Crimea in response to the ousting of a Moscow-backed president by street protests and his replacement by a pro-Western leadership.
"Our goal was to give an insight into how we felt when we suddenly were placed in such a situation," Genoux, who went with a group of volunteers to aid the city, told Reuters.
"We have heard voices, voices, voices and in parallel with these voices we saw the town."
The opening scene shows the half-ruined city filmed from a car window. A volunteer says that Mykolaivka looks like it was bombed yesterday and that nobody seems to be coming to clear the rubble.
Step by step, volunteers were "coming closer to the souls of the people", Genoux said.
The film contains a story about a two-year-old girl who shouted "hooray" during the bombing because her parents had told her it was fireworks. An elderly woman, living in a hostel, says that a bomb destroyed her house and she has nowhere to go.
"We don't understand whose war it is," she said.
Festival curator Roman Pawlowski praised the documentary for its intellectual honesty.
"Georg doesn't manipulate with emotions," Pawlowski said.
"Fear in Ukraine" also touches on problems residents of the city are facing with loss of their cultural and societal identity.
Strong historical ties with Russia, attachment to Ukraine and propaganda from both sides create confusion among Mykolaivka citizens, the film says.
Opinions sometimes differ even within families, but pro-Russian or pro-Ukranian, everyone seems to feel a sense of irreversible change.
"When I went out after the shelling, I felt I was in a different place, in a different country," one shopowner said.
Genoux , who continues to visit the city as a volunteer every month, plans to show "Fear in Ukraine" in Kiev, Sofia and, finally, in Mykolaivka.