​‘Poroshenko promised war until liberation of Ukraine’

President Poroshenko continues to lie, blaming self-defense militias of Donetsk and Lugask for violating the ceasefire. This contradicts documented cases of Kiev's continuous assaults on civilians in the area, foreign affairs expert Nebojsa Malic told RT.

RT:How do you think the European leaders feel about Poroshenko's decision, considering their peace efforts when the truce was in effect?

Nebojsa Malic: I think this has been entirely expected. I suspected something like this would happen following the signing of the deal with the EU. President Poroshenko's speech tonight was a war-mongering one. He essentially promised a war until the final liberation of Ukraine. And he promised to hunt down all those he called bandits and marauders. So there was not a single conciliatory note in it. It is very disappointing from a standpoint of reasonable people, but I would not think for a second that the EU was not expecting this.

RT:Ukraine's president said there could still be a ceasefire if anti-government forces follow his peace plan. Is that a real possibility at this point?

NM: Not in the least. His proposal was not a peace plan, it was essentially a demand for unconditional surrender, offering zero guarantees for the people fighting for self-determination that they would have any of their legitimate demands met by the government in Kiev. There is absolutely no chance for the rebels to take the so-called peace plan into advisement, let alone consideration.

Ukrainians celebrate the announcement of the ceasefire end in front of Poroshenko's administration pic.twitter.com/VzgY5xIxUJ

— Feldman (@EvgenyFeldman) June 30, 2014

RT:What else does Washington want Russia to do? Moscow has already invited Ukrainian border guards and OSCE staff to be stationed on its side of the border.

NM: I don’t think Washington will stop blaming Russia until the very last person refusing to recognize a Nazi Ukrainian state is either dead or in prison. I think the whole process has been geared towards blaming Russia for the National Guard murdering people opposed to the junta. Honestly, Russia is not really involved in this. This is between the junta in Kiev, the people in Donbass, and Western powers backing the junta in Kiev.

I find the whole thing – “this is Ukraine's decision and we will respect this” – extremely cynical, because Ukraine's decision in November was not to sign the deal with the EU. And the US and the EU did not respect that. In fact, they basically set their puppets forth to take over power in the February coup. So this is just extreme cynicism.

RT:President Poroshenko says his forces would never attack civilians and residential areas. So who could be behind the constant bombing? We just heard from two eyewitnesses who are sheltering from explosions in Kramatorsk...

NM: Well, someone is obviously lying. If President Poroshenko is making a statement that is obviously not true to its face, then I think it is obvious who was lying. If we have documented instances that troops loyal either to the government in Kiev or to oligarchs, the Right Sector leaders – they are all on the same side – if we have documented instances of them bombing civilians and murdering the innocent, I do not see why we should take President Poroshenko at his word.