Poroshenko declared his readiness to make the Donbass a free economic zone

In an interview with France 24, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko (Petro Poroshenko) declared his readiness to make the Donbass a free economic zone with special relations with the Russian Federation and the EU. This was reported by the publication "Ukrainian Truth».

“We are even ready to offer them the special status of a free economic zone with a special regime (of relations - ed.) with the European Union and Russia,” Poroshenko said, adding that for this to happen, legal elections to local authorities must take place in Donbass.

He recalled that the Ukrainian government has already given Donbass a special status of local government. “And a significant amount of power, including what language to speak, what songs to sing; They have a significant part of economic autonomy (according to the law on a special procedure for local self-government - ed.),” the president said.

Poroshenko stressed that the conflict in eastern Ukraine is nothing more than Russian military aggression. “This is not a question of people’s interests, this is not a conflict between the people of Donbass and the rest of Ukraine, this is a question of aggression that was imposed on us from the outside,” he said.

The president also added that Ukraine spends about $10 million a day on the military conflict in Donbass. “This is extreme pressure on my country. And not a single country in the world can ensure economic growth in the conditions of such a very difficult type of war. Because we are fighting with perhaps the largest and most effective army on the European continent,” Poroshenko said, writes AmericaRu.com