PRESS RELEASE

Poroshenko Threatens Renewed Warfare Against the Donbass Republics

Nov. 4, 2014 (EIRNS)—Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko reportedly threatened, yesterday, to end the Sept. 5 Minsk cease- fire agreement in the wake of this past Sunday’s elections in Luhansk and Donetsk, which put anti-Kiev regime figures into office by wide margins.

"We should reexamine our action plan. I have discussed it with the defense minister," he said in a speech broadcast on television Monday night, according to a report published by Deutsche Welle, and he called the election a "flagrant violation" of the Minsk agreement. He announced that he would seek the repeal of a provision of the agreement granting the Donbass region limited autonomy as a condition for the two self-proclaimed republics supporting the peace agreement.

By today, according to later news accounts, Poroshenko had backed away from his threat to cancel the Minsk agreement, but stood by his proposal to repeal the special status provision, which repeal has been submitted to the parliament. "I want to emphasize that it [the law] does not mean the cancellation of Minsk agreements; on the contrary, we will be ready to adopt a new law under the circumstances where we will see a ceasefire, the withdrawal of troops from the line of contact ... in accordance with the Minsk Protocol of September 5," Poroshenko said after a meeting in Kiev, according to RIA Novosti.

Earlier on Nov. 3, Poroshenko had also announced that he was sending troops to the south and east for the "construction of fortifications" against a "possible offensive in the direction of Mariupol, Berdyansk, Kharkiv and Luhansk north." According to the Guardian, there have been rumors circulating in Donetsk of a new offensive by separatist forces, but it’s not clear that there is an appetite for renewed warfare, as the political leadership of both republics have spoken of the need to work to improve economic conditions. Police officials in Luhansk told Itar-Tass today, however, that Ukrainian army shelling of inhabited areas had killed 20 people since last night.