Poroshenko releases new peace plan

KIEV, Friday

Ukraine’s new Western-backed president on Friday released a sweeping peace plan for curbing a pro-Russian uprising in the separatist east that is threatening the ex-Soviet country’s survival.

The 14-point initiative’s publication followed two calls made by President Petro Poroshenko to Vladimir Putin within 72 hours in the belief that no truce could work without the support of the Russian strongman.

Poroshenko on Thursday also hosted more than a dozen mayors and tycoons from the eastern rustbelt to help win their backing for his plan to try to end 10 weeks of fighting that has killed at least 365 civilians and fighters on both sides.

A Ukranian military spokesman said the latest clashes in the east had claimed the lives of seven soldiers and left 30 wounded.

Kiev media published photographs of the document Poroshenko planned to unveil later today which demands that the rebels disarm and promises to decentralise power through constitutional reform.

CHARGES DROPPED

The plan drops criminal charges against fighters who committed no serious crimes and provides a guaranteed corridor for Russian and Ukrainian mercenaries to leave the conflict zone.

It establishes a 10-kilometre border buffer zone to stem the flow of gunmen and equipment that both Kiev and Washington claim have been flooding in from Russia in recent weeks.

But it also calls on local government bodies to resume their operations — a demand rejected by separatist leaders who have proclaimed their independence from Kiev and occupied administration buildings in about a dozen cities and towns.

One rebel commander this week dismissed as meaningless news that Poroshenko was about to propose a strategy for ending the country’s worst crisis in its post-Soviet history.

EASTERN CAMPAIGN

The plan is officially called “Steps toward a peaceful settlement of the situation in eastern Ukrainian regions” and is intended to stay in force for 10 days from the moment Poroshenko declares a ceasefire.

Poroshenko promised on Wednesday to order his troops to halt their eastern campaign within a matter of days.

But he also argued that a long-lasting peace could only be established once the 2,000-kilometre land border with Russia is fully sealed — a job acting Defence Minister Mykhailo Koval said his forces had just accomplished.

“Our troops have completely surrounded the troubled regions and restored the state border’s control,” Koval told parliament.

Putin had earlier bowed to Western pressure and refused to recognise the independence proclaimed by the eastern Donetsk and Lugansk regions in the wake of disputed May 11 sovereignty referendums.

He has lobbied for Kiev to turn Ukraine into a federation that provides regional leaders with the right to draft laws.