Poroshenko Pledges to Regain Lost Territory
Poroshenko Pledges to Regain Lost Territory
Peace process foresees return of rebel territory to Kyiv’s control, but Russia is not likely to give up Crimea.
15 January 2016
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has vowed to restore control over the Crimean peninsula and the rebel-held areas in eastern Ukraine this year.
“Ukrainian sovereignty over the occupied territories of Donetsk and Luhansk regions must be restored. … The fight for Crimea’s return remains a priority,” Poroshenko said, International Business Times reports.
At his 14 January press conference in Kyiv, he stressed that “de-occupation” of Crimea should be carried out using international mechanisms under the supervision of the United States and European Union, AFP reports.
The pro-Moscow rebellion in Ukraine’s eastern regions began in April 2014, one month after Russia’s annexation of Crimea.
Ukrainian authorities have repeatedly accused Russia of arming the rebels and sending large numbers of soldiers to the war zone. Moscow denies the allegations, saying Russia only had “people there [in eastern Ukraine] who carried out certain tasks including in the military sphere.”
The Minsk peace process calls for the return of rebel-controlled territory to Kyiv’s control in return for a high level of autonomy. Negotiators agreed to release more than 50 prisoners at the latest round of talks in the Belarusian capital on 13 January, International Business Times reports.
Fighting between Ukrainian government forces and pro-Kremlin rebels has killed more than 9,000 people, mostly civilians, according to the UN.
In other developments in Ukraine:
- Russia’s Federal Air Transport Agency, Rosaviation, claims it has “important new facts” about the 2014 downing of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 in eastern Ukraine.
- Rosaviation says new data casts doubt on the conclusions of the Dutch investigation into the crash, which said a Russian-made Buk missile fired from rebel-controlled territory probably brought the plane down, killing all on board.
- A lawyer for one of two Russian servicemen being held in Ukraine says Russia may agree to swap them for jailed Ukrainian citizens, film maker Oleg Sentsov and Oleksandr Kolchenko or captured pilot Nadiya Savchenko, RFE’s Ukrainian service reports.
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