23 July 2014
The Ukrainian government won’t declare martial law in the Donbas region, partly because it would lose financing from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko told MPs at a July 22 meeting, reported pravda.com.ua. Martial law would also establish legal rights for the aggressor state, in this case Russia. “Martial law is a situation when there’s an opposing side,” he said. “And that side with which we’re fighting has corresponding rights. It can be supported by other states and it will be protected by law.” Martial law would also forbid the government to receive arms from abroad, he said. Instead, the government is asking the global community to recognize the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics as terrorist organizations, making it a crime to support them financially or materially.
Zenon Zawada: There are numerous factors behind Poroshenko’s position against martial law, some of which he mentioned. What he didn’t mention was the possibility that the armed forces will gain higher trust and standing from the Ukrainian public after a successful military operation, posing a threat to the nation’s oligarchy. On the flip side, a military operation with many civilian casualties would hurt Poroshenko’s standing among the public. In all, there’s too many risks involved with introducing martial law at this point.