"We are implementing a strategy for the restoration of the territorial integrity of the country, the return of Donbass to Ukraine and the return of Ukraine to Donbass. Under this strategy and for this reason alone, we maintain very confined and very limited economic relations," Poroshenko said at the meeting, dedicated to Ukraine's Day of Remembrance of Combatants in the Territory of Other States.
"I emphasize that this is not commerce with occupants, it is cooperation with those enterprises, which being on the occupied territory could remain in the legal boundaries of Ukraine and which pay taxes to the country’s budget," the president added.
In late December 2016, the so-called Ukrainian volunteer fighters group declared a trade and economic blockade of the self-proclaimed people's republics of Donetsk and Luhansk.
The blockade led to the interruption in deliveries of anthracite coal, which Ukrainian power plants use. In this regard, Poroshenko said Ukraine would try to find ways of unblocking trade with Donbas.
