- Title: UKRAINE: Ukraine confectionary oligarch Poroshenko campaigns in Lviv
- Date: 22nd May 2014
- Summary: LVIV, UKRAINE (MAY 22, 2014) (REUTERS) PEOPLE GATHERED AT RALLY FOR UKRAINIAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE, PETRO POROSHENKO WOMAN HOLDING UKRAINIAN FLAG POROSHENKO BEING ANNOUNCED ON STAGE POROSHENKO ARRIVING, GREETING SUPPORTERS BAND PLAYING POROSHENKO ON STAGE LEADER OF 'UDAR' (PUNCH) PARTY, VITALY KLITSCHKO, SPEAKING TO POROSHENKO
- Embargoed: 6th June 2014 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Ukraine
- Country: Ukraine
- Topics: Politics
- Reuters ID: LVAC3320ZLKXSB1LLWB8IX2GC67E
- Story Text: Ukraine's leading presidential candidate Petro Poroshenko addresses a campaign rally in the western city of Lviv.
Ukraine's leading presidential candidate said on Thursday (May 22) the death of Ukrainian soldiers in clashes with pro-Russian separatists in the east of the country marks "most black day in the history of Ukraine".
Initial reports said more than a dozen servicemen were killed in an early morning clash with the separatists, fuelling security concerns ahead of a presidential election on Sunday seen as crucial for its fragile democracy.
"Now the country is thrust into the flame of war and only tonight, in the most black day in the history of Ukraine, 32 Ukrainian soldiers lost their lives for peace, freedom, for calm in the east, for criminals not to control streets of Ukrainian cities, villages and towns. And I ask to mark with a minute of silence the memory of the Ukrainian warriors lost today," Poroshenko told supporters at a rally in central Lviv.
Kiev's pro-Western government said its forces had also rebuffed an attempt by the separatists to enter its territory from Russia, and it called for an emergency session of the U.N. Security Council to discuss Moscow's role in the violence.
Earlier on Thursday, Poroshenko said early parliamentary elections need to be held in order to fulfil the demands of demonstrators at Kiev's Maidan for a total "reset" of authority in the country.
"I think that at the moment we need not only to unite parliamentary coalitions around decisions crucial to the state but also to definitely execute the will of the Maidan of a total reset of the power. The reset of power, in this case means early parliamentary elections," he told a news conference.
"What we in fact see in parliament means that one parliamentary coalition doesn't exist, or it is created not on ideological arguments and basis with constant undercover deals going on. I don't think that in the conditions of war this is what Ukraine needs. I don't think that for today the fulfilment of the (EU) association agreement and a complete modernization of the country and decisive fight with corruption can be achieved with such a composition of parliament," Poroshenko added.
The government hopes the election planned for Sunday (May 25) will stabilise Ukraine after mass street protests toppled Moscow-backed president Viktor Yanukovich in February, but the separatists have vowed to prevent the poll going ahead in eastern towns where they have seized control. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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