Poroshenko urges formation of national salvation government and transition to war economy
The creation of a new government of national salvation and the transition of the economy to a military footing is what is needed now to get out of the threatening situation for the country's existence. This was stated by Petro Poroshenko on the air of the programme ‘Politclub’ with Vitaly Portnikov on the Espreso TV channel, according to the political force's website.
"The creation of a new government of national salvation. This is no longer a government of unity, it is a government of salvation. We must learn to trust the entire parliament, except for the Opposition Platform - For Life party. President Zelensky must restore or build dialogue with parliament, at least in conditions of critical threat. I really hope that he understands the level of this threat. I hope that the “warm bath” has not distorted his perception of reality," Poroshenko said.
"Today, the threat to the country's existence is becoming increasingly acute. And this is not only about the situation on the front line, but also the possible creation of chaos within the country. A government of national unity is also an effective means of countering this. But this requires political will and responsibility," he stressed.
‘We must put the economy on a war footing,’ he emphasised.
‘This means that any non-targeted spending on infrastructure construction, investments in nuclear reactors, tax-exempt investment parks, cashback schemes, e-Homes, and other expenditures from the state budget while the Armed Forces are underfunded is a crime,’ Poroshenko said.
He noted that in Russia, this issue was resolved within a year. ‘Russia has directed all available resources to the defence-industrial complex. We have not. I want to emphasise, and I am convinced, that if the economy is not decisively shifted to a military track, the army will be left without money,’ Poroshenko stressed.
He noted that the enemy has now switched to a strategy of war of attrition.
‘We must face the truth. We must communicate with the country not in the language of Arestovich, Podolyak, or the ’single marathon." We have an adult society, and we need to prepare it for the things that require social consolidation. If you tell society that we need to organise a layered defence, shift the economy to a military footing, launch the defence industry, and so on, that will be an honest conversation," Poroshenko stressed.
"I do not believe that the Russians will now be able to organise some kind of breakthrough that will allow them to reach Kyiv, Vinnytsia, Chernivtsi or Khmelnytskyi. They are creating operational threats. In Sumy, it is now possible to attack urban targets with FPV drones on fibre optics. The drones can already fly 20 kilometres. It is just over a hundred kilometres to Dnipro. And this is already an operational position - to use not only ballistic ammunition in the multiple launch rocket system. This is a radically different stage of the war and radically different challenges," he said.
"Let's not put the economy on a military footing - it will be a disaster. We must have more technology, we must have more operators, we must have more modern, effective products, Ukraine's defence industry, or joint production with our partners. The money for this is there. I am in constant contact with representatives of countries that have joined the Danish-Dutch initiative. And they are already financing individual enterprises," Poroshenko said.