The operation will gain a military format under the leadership of General Serhiy Nayev.

The Anti-Terrorist Operation in Donbas will end in May, President Petro Poroshenko told a press conference in Vinnytsia.

"The end date of the ATO will be in May, and we will move on to another format of the country's defense in accordance with the law [on Donbas reintegration] adopted. We are introducing new, more effective measures with the use of the armed forces," he said, according to Ukrainska Pravda.

"We are doing this because we see a sharp increase in the level of threat in the east of our state... The regime of the ATO, where everything was coordinated through the SBU, will now be transferred to the leadership of the Armed Forces," Poroshenko added.

Read alsoPoroshenko appoints Commander of Joint Forces

As UNIAN reported, on March 16, President Petro Poroshenko announced the end of the ATO and further transition to the Operation of Joint Forces.

According to him, representatives of other military formations and law enforcement agencies involved in accomplishing tasks in Donbass will be transferred under the leadership of the Joint Forces, the Commander of the Joint Forces to be in charge of them.</s>Baku. 27 June. REPORT.AZ/ President of Georgia Giorgi Margvelashvili does not intend to touch upon the issue of extradition of former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili during the forthcoming visit of Ukrainian counterpart Petro Poroshenko to Tbilisi. Report informs citing the Georgian media, press-speaker of the Georgian President Eka Mishveladze stated at a briefing today.

"The visit of the President of Ukraine to Georgia, during which the most important issues for both countries will be considered, is significant. This topic is not included in the provisional agenda and Margvelashvili himself does not plan to raise it, "Mishveladze said.

Poroshenko's visit to Georgia is scheduled for mid-July. Last week, former deputy chief prosecutor of Georgia and team-mate of Saakashvili in Ukraine David Sakvarelidze said that the Ukrainian authorities are negotiating with the leader of the ruling party of Georgia, billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili to extradite Saakashvili.

Earlier, Deputy Prosecutor General of Ukraine Yevgeny Enin said that extradition of Saakashvili from Ukraine to Georgia is impossible, since he is a citizen of Ukraine.</s>The Ukrainian government and pro-Russian separatists on December 27 carried out the largest exchange of prisoners since 2014 near the town of Horlivka, in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, as part of the Minsk agreement.Videos shared to the Facebook page for Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko showed him dressed in military fatigues as he greeted returning prisoners near Kramatorsk. The president tweeted that 74 detainees had been returned to Kiev-controlled territory and praised the roles of German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron in facilitating the swap.The Russian Interfax news agency reported that 233 captives were transferred by the Kiev government to separatist-controlled territory, though the Kiev Post put that number at 237.According to the Kiev Post, 29 prisoners refused to return to the separatist-controlled side, and another “40 who had already served their sentence and were released did not show up for the swap.” Credit: Petro Poroshenko via Storyful
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko holds a press conference in Vinnytsia announcing the end of the anti-terror operation in Donbass in May. It will be replaced with a military force.