KIEV (Sputnik) — It will be impossible to hold elections in eastern Ukraine in the next two years and thus the question about the special status of Donbass region must be examined separately from the issue of constitutional amendments, Zoryan Shkiryak, adviser to the Ukrainian interior minister, said Friday.
"The elections in the Donbas in the next year or two will be impossible to carry out. Therefore, the talks on the special status of Donbass must be endured beyond any constitutional changes and decentralization," Shkiryak said, as quoted by Ukraine 112 TV channel.
Under the Minsk peace deal, constitutional reforms aimed at decentralizing power in Ukraine and the initiation of local elections in Donbas should have been concluded before the end of 2015. The country's southeastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk 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 accords.
