UKRAINE: : Ukraine's President Poroshenko sets out ceasefire plan after call with Putin

Record ID: 643475

  • Title: UKRAINE: : Ukraine's President Poroshenko sets out ceasefire plan after call with Putin
  • Date: 18th June 2014
  • Summary: KIEV, UKRAINE (JUNE 18, 2014) (REUTERS) UKRAINE'S PRESIDENT PETRO POROSHENKO ARRIVING AT NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (Ukrainian) UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT PETRO POROSHENKO, SAYING: "I can say that the period of ceasefire will be rather short. We expect that illegal armed groups will then immediately disarm. Then order will be reached, including joint patrolling against marauders, criminals, bandits who are destabilising situation in the east." JOURNALISTS LISTENING AND TAKING NOTES (SOUNDBITE) (Ukrainian) UKRAINE'S PRESIDENT PETRO POROSHENKO, SAYING: "The main point of the plan is closure of state border. Without that, there is a high risk that criminals will use the ceasefire for their profit." RANGE AT UKRAINIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF DEFENCE POROSHENKO APPROACHING GENERAL AND GREETING HIM SERVICEMEN LISTENING POROSHENKO STANDING AT PODIUM ACTING DEFENCE MINISTER OF UKRAINE MYKHAILO KOVAL (ON RIGHT) (SOUNDBITE) (Ukrainian) UKRAINE'S PRESIDENT PETRO POROSHENKO, SAYING: "We don't need peace through concessions. We need peace, calm, security and reliable defence of our citizens." AUDIENCE WATCHING GUESTS, INCLUDING MILITARY ATTACHE SERVICEMEN WATCHING PARADE
  • Embargoed: 3rd July 2014 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Ukraine
  • Country: Ukraine
  • Topics: Conflict,People
  • Reuters ID: LVA55NSKVZHASVFTY2LDOT2PN647
  • Story Text: Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko sets out a plan for a ceasefire by government forces in eastern Ukraine.


    After a late-night telephone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on Wednesday (June 18) set out proposals for a peace plan for eastern Ukraine involving a unilateral ceasefire by government forces.
    Speaking to students at a military institute in Kiev, Poroshenko outlined a 14-step plan, including an amnesty for separatist fighters who lay down arms, and tighter controls over Ukraine's border with Russia.
    Ukraine accuses Russia of backing the rebels in the industrial Russian-speaking east who rose up after mass protests in Kiev toppled Viktor Yanukovich, a president sympathetic to Moscow. It says the rebels have been bringing in weapons across the long border with Russia.
    "I can say that the period of ceasefire will be rather short. We expect that illegal armed groups will then immediately disarm," Poroshenko said.
    "The main point of the plan is closure of state border. Without that, there is a high risk that criminals will use the ceasefire for their profit," he said.
    Poroshenko had said on Monday (June 16) that a ceasefire could start only if the border was secure, and that he had ordered troops to regain control of it to pave the way for a truce and peace talks.
    The Kremlin said Putin's conversation with Poroshenko late on Tuesday (June 17) night had "touched on the theme of a possible ceasefire in the area of military action in southeastern Ukraine".
    Moscow has urged a swift end to what it calls a "punitive operation" by Ukrainian forces against pro-Russian separatists in the east.
    Relations between the two neighbours are in tatters, three months after Russia labelled the uprising against Yanukovich a Western-backed coup, then annexed the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea from Ukraine.
    Moscow has grudgingly acknowledged Poroshenko as Ukraine's new elected leader, but tensions are still high, exacerbated by Russia's decision to cut off gas supplies to Ukraine after the two sides failed to agree a regime for pricing and the settlement of Ukraine's debts.
    On Wednesday, Russian investigators accused Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov and Ihor Kolomoisky, governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region in the east, of criminal acts in the government's military push against the separatists.
    A spokesman for the federal Investigative Committee said they were under investigation on charges including murder, kidnapping and using illegal methods of warfare - although it was not immediately clear under what jurisdiction.
    The Kremlin also said Putin had expressed his concern to Poroshenko over the deaths of two journalists for Russian state television, who were killed in shelling as Ukrainian forces fought pro-Russian separatists near the eastern city of Luhansk.
    Poroshenko expressed his condolences and assured Putin there would be an investigation and that measures would be taken to protect journalists.
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