Poroshenko Pledges More Autonomy to Rebellious East

Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko said on Wednesday that he will offer more autonomy to the separatists in the rebellious eastern regions of the country.

He promised to introduce a bill in the parliament next week itself for this purpose.  However, Poroshenko turned down the idea of federalization and said that the regions would remain part of Ukraine, reports the Associated Press.

Ina televised Cabinet meeting, Poroshenko said that the cease- fire deal reached in Belarus "envisages the restoration and preservation of Ukrainian sovereignty over the entire territory of Donbas, including the part that is temporarily under control of the rebels."

As Poroshenko was elusive on the details of the proposed bill, it is not clear how much autonomy would be offered to the rebellious regions.

Nevertheless, a peace plan laid out in June conceived the protection of the Russian language, combined patrols by the federal and local police and allowing local representatives to approve governors appointed by the central government in Kiev.

Poroshneko has found it difficult to portray the Minsk cease-fire agreement as a victory rather than a defeat. He said that after the cease fire agreement, 70 percent of Russian troops in Ukraine have gone back. He also said that the rebels freed 700 Ukrainian prisoners, and hoped that another 500 prisoners would be let off by the end of the week, reports AP.

However, it is not clear how many of the released were soldiers rather than civilians.

 Col. Andriy Lysenko, spokesman for the Ukrainian National Security Council, said that only 20 soldiers had returned till date.

Meanwhile, Igor Plotnitsky, head of the Luhansk People's Republic (LPR), said that the rebels will accept nothing short of full independence from Ukraine.

 "Neither we nor our friends in Donetsk are planning to give up our course towards building our own statehood. Temporary ceasefire cannot cancel the results of people's will. The people of the Donbas region univocally voted for the independence of our two republics (from Ukraine). So, there can be no return to their previous status," Plotnitsky said, according to Itar Tass News Agency.

But  Plotnitsky admitted that the path to true independence was going to be lengthy and tough.