UKRAINE’s former president Petro Poroshenko has praised the Government for pledging £2.3 billion in military aid next year.
He told GB News: “We are appreciative of the decision.
“I just want to say that this is mostly not economic support but military support and this is exactly what we need now, because this is the shortest way to peace – more weapons.
“I just returned back this morning from the south of Ukraine from the Kherson region on the border with the Nikolaev region.
“I just want to say the words of the Ukrainian soldiers, who definitely thank our partners from the US, from the UK, from NATO, for the artillery, the ammunition for the drones, and they kindly ask for anti-aircraft missiles.”
Speaking in an interview with Alastair Stewart, he added: “This is definitely vital because a lot of the Russian bombers and jet fighters were in the air, I saw it with my own eyes…
“The fact of the successful counter attack is due to the bravery and professionalism of the new Ukrainian armed forces which was created in 2014.
“The start of the counter offensive operation was possible only because of the Western system.”
Mr Poroshenko told GB News: “The whole world now understands that we fight not only for Ukraine, we fight for the whole western goal, for the whole western values.
“I support the message from Liz Truss: help us to save you, help us to stop the Russian troops.
“It would be better to do it on Ukrainian territory than to let them go to the Nato member state.
“Everybody now believes that Ukraine will win and the victory will be with Ukraine.”
He called for peacekeepers to be deployed to protect the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station.
“It is 10 times more powerful than Chernobyl and which is now under occupation of the Russian troops who try to blackmail the whole world with nuclear terror.
“Definitely we need a decision for the special peacekeeping operation based on the decision of Security Council of the United Nations who would stay there and guarantee the nuclear security of the world.”