KIEV, July 17./ITAR-TASS/. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said Thursday that hostilities in eastern Ukraine should not hinder reforms, the Ukrainian presidential press service reported.

“Today, Ukraine enjoys overwhelming support of global financial organizations, which are ready to provide loans to our country,” Poroshenko said.

According to the Ukrainian president, reforms in the country should be synchronized with implementation of the association agreement with the European Union.

“The association agreement outlines the basic concept of reforms, we only need to complete and harmonize them with Ukrainian laws,” he added.

Pro-Kiev troops and local militias in the southeastern Ukrainian Donetsk and Luhansk regions are involved in fierce clashes as the Ukrainian armed forces are conducting a military operation to regain control over the breakaway regions, which on May 11 proclaimed their independence at local referendums.

During the military operation, conducted since mid-April, Kiev has used armored vehicles, heavy artillery and attack aviation. According to Ukraine’s Health Ministry, 478 civilians have been killed and 1,392 wounded in it. Many buildings have been destroyed and tens of thousands of people have had to flee Ukraine’s war-torn Southeast.