Poroshenko hopes anti-terrorist operation will end before presidential elections

Ukrainian presidential candidate Petro Poroshenko has said he hopes that an anti-terrorist operation in east Ukraine will be completed before the presidential elections scheduled for May 25.

He said this at a briefing in parliament on Tuesday, a Ukrinform correspondent reported.

"Today it is important to provide opportunities for the vote in the presidential elections. We hope that we will manage to complete the anti-terrorist operation before the presidential elections. In a greater part of Donetsk and Luhansk regions, in which it will be impossible to do so, terrorists must be locked so as not to interfere with the conduct of elections in other parts of the region," Poroshenko said.

He also expressed confidence that the presidential elections would not be disrupted. "I am confident that Russia will not be able to disrupt the presidential elections despite all provocations that are currently taking place in different regions. However, the level of representativeness for participation in the presidential elections in different regions - and I often visit them now - is very high," Poroshenko said.