Petro Poroshenko blasted the  Russian president directive calling a ‘humanitarian rhetoric’ and  ‘a slap in the face of those who sought peaceful resolution [to the conflict].

The former Ukrainian president argued Moscow seeks ‘thorough admission of defeat from Ukraine and the West’ and uses  ‘humanitarian issues’ to establish ‘new bounds of Russian proxy aggression as the Kremlin is stepping up the scenario of encroaching annexation of the occupied territories of Donbas’.

In his statement on social media Monday, the ‘European Solidarity’ leader urged international actors to provide an adequate response to the recent actions of Moscow that fuels border crisis in Belarus, blocks OSCE mission monitors in Donbas, and keeps amassing troops near Ukrainian borders.

‘It is time for bolstered international presence of our allies in Ukraine. It is time to pay back  Russian brazenness with new sanctions’.

Petro Poroshenko thanked foreign ministers of Germany and France for their latest joint message of support urging Russia to provide ‘transparent information on their military moves’ and warned against any attempts to violate the territorial integrity of Ukraine that will have ‘drastic implications’.

‘We demand not only cancellation of [Putin’s] decree, but return of Ukrainian businesses, removal of Russia ruble zone, and reversal of issuance of Russian passports in Donbas’.

Another instrument that can rein in Moscow can be sanctioning Nord Stream 2, added Poroshenko.

He also called out the Ukrainian government that shrugged off earlier reports  of Russian military moves at the border and failed to find leverage to stall ‘economic Anschluss’  of Ukrainian Donbas.