KIEV, May 9 – President Petro Poroshenko’s government is ready to use peaceful and military measures to take under its control regions currently occupied by Russian forces, a senior official said Monday.

Vadym Chernysh, the Ukrainian minister in charge of the occupied territories of Donetsk and Luhansk, did not elaborate on the plan.

“The terms are peaceful in parallel with strengthening of security and defense,” Chernysh said in an interview with Hromadske television.

Officials tried to avoid detailed comments on the plan amid concerns that it may trigger heavy criticism within the country.

Some people see a military offensive as the only solution to end the occupation, but others would prefer to see the territories, heavily infested by the Kremlin propaganda, abandoned.

Any use of force by either party in the conflict would violate the Minsk agreement, and Western governments have specifically asked Kiev to try to avoid any military escalation.

Poroshenko strengthened his political positions in the country last month following a government reshuffle when his long-time ally Volodymyr Hroysman replaced rival Arseniy Yatseniuk as the prime minister.

During his recent trip to Bucharest, Poroshenko called on the Western governments to continue sanctions against Russia until Moscow completely withdraws its military presence from Ukraine.

Any sanctions relief in return for a partial fulfillment by Russia of the conditions of the Minsk peace deal "will be a direct threat to solving the situation in Donbas," the region of eastern Ukraine where pro-Russian separatists are battling Ukrainian government forces.

Kiev says Russia has sent troops and heavy weapons to the region, but Moscow has repeatedly denied this.

Extended at the end of last year, the Minsk deal signed by Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany aims to give Ukraine back control of its border with Russia, see all heavy weapons withdrawn, return hostages and allow an internationally monitored local election in the east.

Poroshenko said he was convinced that early sanctions relief "can prompt Russia to continue its aggressive actions .... The Minsk agreements must be implemented in their entirety."

The war in Ukraine’s east rages on, however, with one senior Pentagon official telling Situation Report, Foreign Policy magazine’s security brief, that there are 7,000 Russian troops still inside Ukraine, advising pro-Moscow rebels and engaging in the fighting themselves. (nr/ez)