Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko insists on holding local elections on the entire territory of the Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts controlled by Kyiv, except for the districts adjacent to the line of contact between the conflicting parties.
“I favor holding elections everywhere except for the districts that are located right on the contact line and where there is a threat of spontaneous and unpredictable shelling, where we just can’t defend the people,” Poroshenko said at a Regional Development Council meeting in Kyiv on Sept. 9.
He said the Verkhovna Rada would call elections in these districts after the situation there stabilizes.
