All In: We're Reforming Ukraine to Prepare for NATO Referendum - Poroshenko

Ukraine will need six or seven years to reform the country before conducting a referendum on joining NATO, President Petro Poroshenko told Italian Corriere della Sera.

He said that Kiev was "working to substantially reform the country economically, socially and administratively," which will take up to seven years before Ukrainians may vote on joining the Alliance.

Due to the war in Donbass and lame governance, Ukraine is suffering a severe economic crisis and is teetering on the brink of default. Unemployment is growing, and the population is sliding into poverty.

As for the Donbass conflict, he said that the "war could not be won militarily".

He confirmed that Kiev was asking Washington for lethal weapons but has received only "counter-battery radars, communications equipment, a small number of armored vehicles with machine guns, and small reconnaissance drones." He added that Kiev cooperates with American intelligence services and military instructors from the US, Canada and the UK.

On December 23, 2014, Ukraine's parliament denounced the country's non-aligned status. Earlier in April 2014, Kiev's new coup-imposed government started a military operation against Donbass independence supporters.

The war has claimed 6,500 lives and left 16,000 wounded.