President Petro Poroshenko made a televised address to the nation on June 21, in which he discussed his 14-point peace plan.
The president
emphasized that the territorial structure of the country would not be up for
negotiation, although he does advocate a “broad decentralization of power.” He
appealed to grassroots organizations to work with him in returning the Donbas
region to peace, and vowed that local elections would take place soon. His only
appeal to the anti-Ukrainian activists who had seized control of several cities
was for them to lay down their arms.
The
restoration process of the region will be done with the help of the European
Union – not Russia. In fact, Poroshenko only made reference to Russia once, and
then indirectly, when he mentioned at the end, almost as an aside, that Russian
President Vladimir Putin approves of the plan. Prior to that, he listed the
names of European leaders who supported his policy.
In a marked
escalation of rhetoric, President Poroshenko used the word “mercenaries” to
refer to the armed insurgents who control much of the Donbas region, as opposed
to “separatists”. This signified official recognition that the gunmen are being
funded from abroad.
For the
full text of President Poroshenko’s address, follow this link.
