KIEV, Ukraine, June 18 (UPI) -- A military operation to secure eastern Ukraine's border is nearly complete, Defense Minister Mykhailo Koval announced Wednesday.
President Petro Poroshenko had ordered the Ukrainian armed forces to secure the borders, with hopes that a ceasefire would be imminent once the border was secured.
The defense minister said Wednesday:
"The Ukrainian Armed Forces virtually complete restoring the state border in close cooperation with border guards. The Ukrainian Armed Forces operate at the range of 10 to 15 km, thus creating a buffer zone, while border guards and we restore all subdivisions of the State Border Service and checkpoints ... The state border will be closed reliably from outside attempts to penetrate our state."
With the eastern border nearly secure, the president told reporters on Wednesday that law enforcement would undertake a "unilateral ceasefire" in order for armed pro-Russian separatists to disarm and Russian mercenaries to depart. The president did not specify when the ceasefire would begin.
