Ukraine: Constitutional Commission holds its first session

Volodymyr Groisman, Petro Poroshenko and Arseniy Yatsenyuk
during the first session of the Constitutional Commission
(Image: The Guardian)

Ukrainian Constitutional Commission aimed to amend Ukrainian Constitution in the framework of the Constitutional reform, announced earlier, has held its first session on Monday, 6 April. The newly formed Constitutional Commission consists of law experts, politicians, civil activists and representatives of civil society in order to make the process of amendment of Constitution open, according to the official statements.

Amendment of Ukrainian Constitution is being made also in accordance with the terms of Minsk Agreement of 2014, as Ukraine works on granting more rights and powers to the regions and to impose decentralization of government.

Ukraine crisis: Minsk talks’ outcomes are controversial, fighting intensifies

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, Russian leader
Vladimir Putin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French
President Francois Hollande and Ukrainian President Petro
Poroshenko during the Minsk talks
(Image: Wikipedia)

As the situation in Eastern Ukraine remains extremely tense and continues deteriorating, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, European leaders including German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande, Russian President Vladimir Putin and representatives of OSCE met in Minsk, Belarus, for the decisive negotiations. The talks started on Wednesday, 11 February, and lasted for over 14 hours. Talks were also attended by the representatives of the so called Donetsk People’s Republic and Luhansk People’s Republic Zakharchenko and Plotnitsky.

The talks were extremely hard for Ukraine, claimed Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, as Russia’s demands were almost ultimatums totally unacceptable for Ukraine including federalization and constitutional reform in Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko orders deployment of troops to the key cities

Ukrainian Armed Forces in Eastern Ukraine
(Image: AP)

After the illegal elections held on Sunday, 2 November, in Donetsk and Luhansk regions, occupied by the pro-Russian rebels, Ukrainian President has called an urgent meeting of National Security and Defense Council in order to discuss current situation and the further steps.

After the meeting Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko announced he has ordered immediate deployment of the troops to the key Eastern and Southern cities of Ukraine, including the cities of Berdyansk, Mariupol, Kharkiv and north of Luhansk. This move is necessary in case of a new offensive of the Russia backed rebels.

Ukrainian crisis: US visit of Petro Poroshenko and the results of the Minsk talks

Ukrainian President Petro Porosheno and US President Barak
Obama
(Image: Bloomberg)

Despite the mutual agreements regarding the ceasefire and the regime of halting the fire in Eastern Ukraine, the situation in the zone of an anti-terrorist operation in Donetsk and Luhansk regions remains extremely tense, with the massive troops of Russian forces remaining on the territory of Ukraine, new Russian “humanitarian” convoy entering the city of Donetsk on Saturday, 20 September, and shelling the cities in the war zone, including Donetsk, Luhansk and Mariupol.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian Defense Ministry has announced recently that the fourth wave of a partial mobilization could be expected in the nearest future in case Russian aggression will not stop.

Ukraine receives support of NATO. Trilateral talks in Minsk regarding Donbas are ongoing

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko among the world leaders
at the NATO Summit in Wales
(Image: Reuters)

Ukraine participated in the NATO Summit held on 4 and 5 September in Wales Newport and received unilateral support of the countries-members of NATO. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has delivered a speech calling on the Western countries to help Ukraine and to support its fight with the Russian aggression, as this aggression actually threatens not only Ukraine but Europe as well and is an issue of concern for the entire world.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko arrived in Minsk for the talks with Russia, EU and the Eurasian Union countries

Participants of the Minsk meeting
(Image: Kyiv Post)

Amid the ongoing battles in the Eastern Ukrainian Donbas region and continuous violations of Ukrainian border by the Russian military and military technique the first round of talks in Minsk, Belarus, was held on 28 August. The meeting was held in the format “Ukraine – Russia – EU – Eurasian Union” and is supposed to help to find the ways and possibilities to resolve the deepening crisis in Eastern Ukraine.

The Minsk meeting was attended by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Presidents of the countries-members of the Custom Union, Belarusian Aleksandr Lukashenko and Kazakhstan’s Nursultan Nazarbayev and were observed also by three EU commissioners, including Catherine Ashton.