Poroshenko orders taking steps to free servicemen captured in Donbas
KYIV. Jan 4 (Interfax) - Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko ordered at a working meeting with the chiefs of security and law enforcement agencies that efforts toward freeing Ukrainian servicemen held by the militia in the eastern part of the country be stepped up.
He said the Ukrainian intelligence services and the Security Service possess information on the whereabouts and the number of Ukrainian military servicemen held by the militia.
"We should do everything for their soonest possible release," the presidential press service quoted Poroshenko as saying on Sunday.
The president also instructed the Security Service to tighten controls at checkpoints to prevent smuggling. He also told the Antiterrorist Center to make sure that only properly cleared cargoes belonging to registered companies can pass through checkpoints.
Poroshenko admitted that the Ukrainian armed forces' capability has been improved significantly over a short period of time.
"In fact, we have handed considerable amounts of new or modernized military hardware to our military. New phases of transfers of modern hardware to the armed forces are planned in the near future," he said.
The transfer of another 100 items of machinery for the Ukrainian army will take place at a military range near Zhytomyr on Monday, January 5, the presidential press service said.
National Security and Defense Council Secretary Oleksandr Turchynov said the number of passages across the contact line in the military operation area would be limited to seven, and the rest will be blocked.