Ukraine crisis: Rebel east offered three years of limited self-rule in peace deal

Updated

Ukraine's president has offered parts of the ex-Soviet country's separatist east limited self-rule for three years under the terms of a peace plan reached with pro-Russian separatists.

Petro Poroshenko's official website said the pro-Western leader told top lawmakers the proposal would be part of a broader deal signed on September 5.

He intended to formally submit it to parliament on Tuesday.

The bill also extends the right of people in the rebel-held Lugansk and Donetsk regions to use Russian in state institutions and conduct local elections on November 9, according to media reports.

The bill further permits the regions to "strengthen good neighbourly relations" between local authorities and their counterparts in Russia.

It protects from criminal prosecution "participants of events in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions" — appearing to apply to both the insurgents and Ukrainian government troops — and allows regional councils to appoint local judges and prosecutors.

The bill also promises to help restore damaged infrastructure and to provide social and economic assistance to particularly hard-hit areas.

Mr Poroshenko had promised to offer parts of the war-torn industrial east broader autonomy under the terms of the truce agreed earlier this month with the Kremlin and two separatist leaders.

He urged parliamentary faction leaders to quickly back his efforts to end five months of fighting that have killed more than 2,700 people and forced more than half a million from their homes.

Mr Poroshenko said his proposals guaranteed "the sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence of our state".

The presidential website said the three years of limited self-rule would give his government a chance to implement "deep-rooted decentralisation, which will be the subject of corresponding constitutional changes".

Monitors 'shot at' while visiting MH17 crash site

Mr Poroshenko's announcement came after international observers with the pan-European security body the OSCE came under fire while they were visiting the site of the Malaysia Airlines plane crash, the organisation said.

The six monitors were unharmed in the incident, which occurred amid a surge in deadly fighting in the rebel-held Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, despite a ceasefire.

However, both OSCE vehicles were hit by artillery and one was so heavily damaged by artillery or mortar fire it had to be abandoned, the Vienna-based organisation said in a statement.

It said confrontations in several trouble spots in the Donestk region had "intensified" over the past three days, with the "movement of troops and hardware on both sides".

The OSCE brokered the truce deal signed by Kiev, Moscow and pro-Russian separatists on September 5, but the rival sides have accused each other of repeated violations.

Six civilians were killed in shelling near Donetsk airport on Sunday, the deadliest day since the truce.

Sunday's incident came after the OSCE observers had made an "on-site assessment" of the area where flight MH17 was downed in July with the loss of all 298 people on board.

Israeli weapons sale to Ukraine blocked: report

Meanwhile, a proposed sale of Israeli weapons including drones to Ukraine has been blocked for fear of antagonising Russia, local television reported.

Broadcaster Channel Two said a Ukrainian delegation had visited Israel with a view to acquiring military hardware, including drones, to use against pro-Russian separatists.

It was not reported when the visit took place or when the decision to turn down the request was taken.

Israel's defence ministry had given the green light for the sale of pilotless aircraft produced by the company Aeronautics to Ukraine, but the foreign ministry then vetoed the sale.

Monday's television report said the ministry concluded that the sale risked causing anger in Russia and could provoke Moscow to sell more arms to Syria and Iran, the Jewish state's arch-enemy.

A defence ministry spokesman refused to comment on the report.

AFP/Reuters

Topics: unrest-conflict-and-war, world-politics, ukraine, russian-federation

First posted