REUTERS
A total of 1,800 Ukrainian soldiers and 7,000 civilians have been killed since the outbreak of the military conflict in the Donbas, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said in an interview on Tuesday with BBC Ukraine.
According to Poroshenko, the situation in the Donbas conflict zone has recently deteriorated sharply.
"When we were standing on the Maidan, we did not expect that the country would be involved in such a great war," he said.
"You have to understand what kind of price Ukraine is paying for this: from $5 to $10 million a day. This is a huge price for our country. But nearly 9,000 lives is a greater price for us," Poroshenko said.