President Petro Poroshenko has said that he considers the Joint Forces Operation (JFO) in eastern Ukraine to be much more efficient than the previous antiterrorist operation (ATO).
"Have you not noticed how news updates from the front line have changed? Have you not noticed how the Joint Forces Operation is much more effective than the ATO?" the Interfax-Ukraine news agency quoted him as saying at a meeting with students of the National Taras Shevchenko University in Kyiv.
According to the president, the JFO gives servicemen more rights.
"Step by step will be implementing a policy of restoring Ukrainian sovereignty over Donbas. Have no doubt: Donbas will never be Russian," he said.
Poroshenko announced the beginning of the JFO in Donbas on 30 April. He said then that the ATO had met the set objectives over four years.