Marking Independence Day, Ukraine's president vows to defeat rebels

So much for Minsk II.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko vowed Monday to deploy thousands more troops and hundreds of new armored vehicles, and warned Russia-backed separatists that they will be defeated in their quest to divide Ukraine from its Western allies.

At a military parade marking 24 years since Ukraine declared independence from the Soviet Union, Poroshenko claimed Russia has amassed 50,000 troops on Ukraine's eastern border and has an additional 9,000 aiding the rebels from within the two enclaves held by the separatists.

"We must get through the 25th year of independence as if on brittle ice. We must understand that the smallest misstep could be fatal," the president and confectionary magnate told a crowd of thousands gathered at central Kiev's Independence Square. "The war for independence is still ongoing.”

The vast square was the scene of a three-month rebellion that began in December 2013 and led to the flight into Russian exile by former President Viktor Yanukovich, who angered Western-oriented Ukrainians with his effort to derail a trade and political agreement with the European Union.

http://www.latimes.com/world/europe/la-fg-ukraine-russia-rebels-20150824-story.html