Ukraine's National Security Council decided on territories with special status in Donbass

Ukraine's National Security Council has decided on borders of territories of Lugansk and Donetsk regions that will be awarded a special status and local self-governance. The decision was made yesterday at a meeting of the council chaired by Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko, said first deputy secretary of the council Mikhail Koval.

Meanwhile, those territories that came under control of the self-defense forces after September 19, 2014 (for instance, Ilovaisk or Debaltsevo) will not be granted special status.

However, a resolution of the Supreme Rada is needed for a final solution. Its next session is planned for March 17. Thus, Kiev will not observe the time limits set by the Minsk agreements. According to them, the list of areas with special status is to be set by March 14.

“Political settlement is an integral part of the set of measures. It has a clear step-by-step schedule. The Supreme Rada should adopt a list of territories that will be granted special status. If this decision is not made in the near 24 hours, the whole world will have no doubt that Kiev was not going to stick to the road-map guaranteed by Russia, Germany and France, thus it means it does not want peaceful settlement of the conflict,” Donetsk People’s Republic representative Denis Pushilin said on March 13.