Ukraine’s president visits conflict zone: presidency
0
KYIV: Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko made a surprise election day visit Sunday to the east of the country where troops are fighting against a pro-Russian insurgency.
“I arrived in Donbass,” Poroshenko said on his official Twitter account, referring to the conflict region. An accompanying photograph showed him dressed in a camouflage uniform and gazing out of the open door of a helicopter.
There was no information about where exactly the president stopped in the region, only part of which is held by rebels.
The visit came as Ukrainians began voting in a parliamentary election expected to back Poroshenko’s pro-Western reforms and test popular support for his plan to negotiate with the insurgents.
The presidency’s press office said Poroshenko would return to the capital Kyiv to cast his ballot by midday (1000 GMT).
Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2014