"Local elections need to be held across the entire territory of the Ukrainian territory, based on the Ukrainian legislation, to give legitimacy to those who represent the people," Jordi Xucla said while addressing the Assembly during a debate on Ukraine.
The lawmaker added that the elections could bring about "different political options" particularly in the breakaway southeastern regions, which have been targeted by a massive government military operation for more than a year.
Xucla stressed that it was important to decentralize power in the country as envisaged in the Minsk agreements, signed by the warring parties in February. The agreed reconciliation steps also include the withdrawal of heavy artillery from front lines and a prisoner exchange.
The Spanish parliamentarian, once again, stressed the need for Kiev to complete large-scale economic and political reforms, supported by Brussels.
More than 6,000 people have lost their lives in clashes between government troops and pro-independence militias in Ukraine's southeast since the start of the conflict in April 2014, according to UN estimates. The sides keep accusing each other of occasionally breaching the ceasefire.
