Russia-Backed Rebels in Ukraine to Delay Disputed Elections

‘There has not been a single shot fired. This is still not peace.

Addressing students undergoing military training in Kyiv, Poroshenko said the end of war will come “when the last piece of the Ukrainian land is liberated from the enemy, the occupant, the invader,” he said.

The new “truce” resulted in modification of the “Minsk 2” ceasefire accord.

This image taken in the village of Shyrokyne, Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine, on July 3, 2015, shows a Ukrainian sniper looking down the scope of his rifle. A summit reviving a European push to bring peace to eastern Ukraine ended Friday with a call for the delay of contentious rebel plans to hold local elections this month and for both sides to begin a promised withdrawal of smaller-caliber weapons.

“People living in separatist-controlled areas deserve to pick their local officials in elections that meet global standards, are compliant with Ukrainian law and monitored by the OSCE”, he told reporters in Washington. In 80 days, after the passage of the law, the election should be held.

According to reports, Pope Francis has accepted an invitation from President Poroshenko to travel to Ukraine, but as yet no date has been set. Ukraine and Western governments allege Russian Federation is sending troops and equipment to back the separatists and Ukraine has adopted a national security doctrine declaring Russian Federation as its foe.

“Today at 11.00 (9 a.m. BT) in Luhansk region we began a simultaneous removal of T-64 and T-72 tanks and in a few places anti-tank artillery D-48 and D-44 and… mortars”, military spokesman Ruslan Tkachuk said on Facebook.

The move was announced by two senior separatist representatives of the self-proclaimed republics in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

“And in that case, we will have a chance to achieve peace and – of this, I am certain – the return of the occupied lands”.

More than 8,000 people have been killed in the Ukraine conflict, which broke out in spring previous year shortly after Ukraine ousted its pro-Russian president amid mass protests calling for closer ties with the West.