WASHINGTON (Sputnik) – Speaking at the World Affairs Councils of America (WACA) in Washington, DC on Wednesday, Poroshenko accused Russia of supplying heavy weaponry to Ukraine’s southeast (Donbass) and stressed that elections in the area will be possible only when an OSCE police mission is completed.
According to Poroshenko, Russian President Vladimir Putin has opened an "internal front to destabilize Ukraine." The Ukrainian president called for toughening sanctions against Russia.
The United States and the European Union have imposed a series of sanctions against Russia, accusing it of interfering in the conflict between the Kiev government and independence forces in Donbass. Moscow denies the allegations.
Kiev launched a special military operation in Ukraine's southeast (Donbass) in April 2014, after local residents refused to recognize the new Ukrainian authorities, which came to power as a result of a coup.
In February 2015, a peace agreement was signed between the two sides in the Belarusian capital, Minsk. The deal stipulates a full ceasefire, a weapons withdrawal from the line of contact in eastern Ukraine, an all-for-all prisoner exchange and constitutional reforms, which would give a special status to DPR and LPR.
Under the Minsk peace deal, constitutional reforms aimed at decentralizing power in Ukraine and the initiation of local elections in Donbass should have been concluded before the end of 2015.
The country's regions of Donetsk and Lugansk agreed to postpone their local elections until 2016. Before elections in those regions can take place, Ukrainian authorities must fulfill all their obligations under the Minsk peace agreement.
