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A total of 2,504 Ukrainian soldiers were killed defending Ukraine since the beginning of 2014, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said during a speech in the center of Kyiv on the occasion of Ukraine's Independence Day, according to a UNIAN correspondent.
"Looking back on more than two years of war, we can confidently assert that the enemy was not able to implement any strategic task and could not bring Ukraine to its knees. Some 2,504 of our warriors died for this," he stated.
Read alsoUkraine reports 8 WIA in past 24 hoursPoroshenko once again stressed that the Armed Forces of Ukraine was the main guarantor of the state.
"There is a question; what is the guarantee that all our optimistic plans will not just remain on paper and will not hang in the air? The answer is obvious. Our main guarantor is the Armed Forces of Ukraine. It is much more serious than the Budapest Memorandum," he stressed.