Tymoshenko says state of emergency should be introduced in eastern Ukraine
KYIV. April 17 (Interfax) - Ukrainian presidential candidate and Batkivshchyna party leader Yulia Tymoshenko has spoken out in favor of immediately declaring a state of emergency in the country's eastern regions in order to enable the authorities to use Armed Forces units against their opponents there.
"My advice to the authorities today is to urgently put up military resistance to the "war" that Russia has declared on us. For this reason, in my opinion, at the first stage there is a need to immediately introduce a state of emergency in the regions where this aggression is really happening today," Tymoshenko told Radio Free Europe/ Radio Liberty on Wednesday.
"This will give us the right to use the army along with other options," he added.
At the same time, Tymoshenko admitted that Ukraine's Armed Forces, police and special services have now found themselves "in an extremely dire and "dilapidated" condition, being demoralized and totally unready for a modern-time war."
It is necessary to declare a state of emergency "and look for patriotic servicemen, officers and employees of special services who are prepared to assume responsibility for defending Ukraine today," Tymoshenko said.