Poroshenko endorses special status for occupied Donbas

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has submitted to parliament a bill that would amend the Ukrainian Constitution to create special status for the Donetsk and Luhansk regions within the Ukrainian state, reported the pravda.com.ua news site on July 16, citing an anonymous source. The new legislation amends the Constitution directly, instead of the president’s previous proposal of creating the special status in a separate law.

The changes were the result of a visit to Ukraine by U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Victoria Nuland, reported pravda.com.ua. The president’s proposed special status has already gained parliamentary committee approval, the report said. “At this hour and minute, enormous pressure is being exerted on MPs from the international community in order for the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics gained special status in our Constitution,” Parliamentary Deputy Head Oksana Syroyid wrote on her Facebook page. The approval is being justified by the need “to demonstrate the fulfillment of the Minsk accords,” she wrote.

Ukraine’s parliament is scheduled to vote today to include this bill in the daily agenda and submit it to the Constitutional Court for review. After its approval, the bill needs a simple majority of 226 votes in its first reading and 300 votes in its second reading in order to amend the Constitution.

Russian-backed terrorists bombarded the Donetsk village of Kodema on July 15, killing local residents, reported the press center of the Anti-Terrorist Operation. They used heavy artillery, mortars and tanks, the report said, with more than a third of the shootings coming from weapons prohibited by the Minsk accords.

In the 24 hours leading up to noon July 15, the Russian-backed terrorists engaged in the most intense shootings of Ukrainian territory since the signing of the Minsk accords in February, reported that day the press service of the National Security and Defense Council. “The shooting of Ukrainian positions was conducted using 152 mm artillery systems that are prohibited,” the report said. As a result, eight Ukrainian soldiers were killed and 16 injured.

Zenon Zawada: Poroshenko had resisted introducing special status as part of his planned constitutional amendments because his team is well aware of its unpopularity in light of the refusal of the Russian-backed terrorists to adhere to the Minsk accords. Given that he is beholden to Western governments for support however, he can’t resist such demands when they come from the top of the U.S. State Department, as reported.

The president’s reported endorsement of fixating occupied Donbas’s special status in the Constitution will make him an immediate target for the war camp and populists, who are already accusing him of betraying national interests. Once scandal and emotions cool, it will be worth examining just what the conditions for special status are. We doubt the West would endorse conditions that will burden the Ukrainian government with unbearable debts and payments that would make Ukraine’s Western integration impossible. We are confident that the conditions for special status, endorsed by the West, will be reasonable enough to enable the government to sustain itself and continue with its reforms path.

At the same time, Western governments will be criticized for continuing to appease Russian President Putin with the special status endorsement, which comes on the heels of criticism that the U.S. government capitulated to Iran with its nuclear deal. A hawkish Western leadership – led by the George W. Bush foreign policy team, for example – would have already supplied Ukraine with lethal arms and not offered special status without forcing the Russian-backed terrorists to adhere to most of the Minsk accords beforehand. The conditions of the special status will determine whether the West is capitulating with Putin, we believe.