Head of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry Stepan Poltorak does not rule out an offensive of the Ukrainian army in the Donbas after the end of the antiterrorist operation (APO) on April 30.
Since April 30, the Ukrainian government has changed the format of the ATO in the east of the country to a military Operation of the United Forces. On April 13, reformatting the ATO was announced by the President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko. The change in the status of the operation was legally enshrined in the law on the reintegration of the Donbas.
After the beginning of the United Forces Operations in the territory of Donetsk and Luhansk regions, a special order will be in place. The corresponding document came into force on Monday. According to it, security authorities are given a number of special powers: in particular, servicemen and law enforcement officers can “in case of emergency” use weapons and special tools against offenders.
“We do not rule out that if the format of the operation changes, the number of provocations will only grow,” said the representative of the Donetsk separatists, Eduard Bazurin.
The United Forces Operations are subordinate not only to the military forces, but also to all law enforcement agencies that are located on the territory of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions (the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the National Police). In addition, according to the law, the commander of the United forces participates in the deployment and “development of contingency plans for the Armed Forces and the defense forces”, writes the Ukrainian unian.net.
