16 December 2014, 21:37 GMT
KIEV, December 17 (Sputnik) – Ukraine must create one of the most powerful armed forces in Europe, the recently appointed head of the country’s National Security and Defense Council said Wednesday.
“We must create one of the most powerful armies in Europe,” said Oleksandr Turchynov, who assumed the post of the head of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council Tuesday.
16 December 2014, 15:03 GMT
“Our war will be over only when the entire territory of our country, including Crimea, is freed,” he continued.
Crimea and the city of Sevastopol became part of Russian Federation in March, after a referendum where more than 96 percent of the peninsula's population voted in support of the reunification. According to the Russian Federal Migration Service only 3,427 out of some two million people living in Crimea applied to renounce Russian citizenship. Despite this, Kiev still considers Crimea Ukrainian territory.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Luhansk announced their independence from Ukraine in early April.
