President Petro Poroshenko says law enforcement agencies should curb anarchy in the country.
"In today's Ukraine, many confuse democracy with Makhnovism [anarchy]. We are bound to lose statehood unless everyone understands that only the state has the monopoly on violence, the use of force. All protest actions must be exclusively peaceful. The passion for weapons should be demonstrated on the frontline, and railroads should be sabotaged in the enemy's territory - as opposed to in the rear of our own troops," the president said on Friday, 17 March.
"I should warn all those who tresspass the above principles of law and common sense that I will stand up against all those who will, for Russia's benefit, try to sow disorder and anarchy in Ukraine. I will oppose this by persuasion and by force of law enforcement bodies," Petro Poroshenko stressed.
"I call on to all the political parties, both represented in the Verkhovna Rada and non-parliamentary: in the tough domestic political standoff, take into account the extraordinary external circumstances in which we have to build a European Ukraine. You are welcome to fight against the president, that's what the opposition is for, but do not rattle Ukraine, do not set her on fire," he said.
The president recalled that Ukraine will hold elections in just two years' time and urged the opposition to get a grip and wait instead of waging a "war of mutual extermination."
Poroshenko stressed that he would not announce an early election.
"The loosening of the situation from within, in my deep conviction, is one of the aspects of the hybrid war that the Kremlin is waging against Ukraine. And since under the Constitution the decision on early parliamentary elections and the dissolution of the parliament is taken exclusively by the president, I want to emphasize again: I am opposed to early parliamentary elections that Russia is so interested in. And hence - it is never going to happen," President Petro Poroshenko said.