KIEV, November 3 (RIA Novosti) — Ukraine will never recognize the elections that took place in the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk people's republics (DPR and LPR), Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said in his Monday address.
"Ukraine will never recognize the so-called November 2 elections. We cannot respect the choice that was not made — nor in fact, nor juridically," the presidential address said.
The statement came after breakaway republics in eastern Ukraine went to the polls on Sunday to vote in presidential and parliamentary polls, a move that upset the government in Kiev and its Western allies.
The United States and European Union said the elections ran counter to the Minsk agreements on the settlement of the Ukrainian crisis, while Russia said it would recognize the polls and emphasized that condemning them would undermine efforts to reach a peace settlement in Ukraine.
Earlier in the day, Poroshenko announced he was considering scrapping special status that was granted to the restive Donbas region following trilateral negotiations in the Belarusian capital Minsk.
The special status law gave the regions greater autonomy and scheduled local elections for December 7. But DPR and LPR leaders said later the regions would vote on another day.
