KIEV (Sputnik) — Ukrainian parliament may hold the second reading of the bill on Donbass reintegration, initially set for October, in the middle of November, Ukraine's presidential parliamentary representative Irina Lutsenko said Saturday.
In early October, the Ukrainian parliament in the first reading adopted the bill on reintegration of Donbass region, proposed by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. The lawmakers proposed around a thousand amendments to the bill, which led to postponing of the second reading.
"I think that it will be presented in the Verkhovna Rada [the parliament] at the end of the second plenary week [November 14-17]. But no one needs haste in this issue, this is the destiny – the destiny of the lands that are now on the occupied territory," Lutsenko said in an interview with the Inter TV channel.
The representative added that at the moment, the National Security Committee of the Rada received over 2,000 amendments to the bill, most of which disagree with the principles of the legislation.
In 2014, Kiev started a military operation against the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics in Donbass, which refused to recognize the new government that had recently come to power in Ukraine. In February 2015, the parties to the conflict signed the Minsk accords, brokered by the leaders of France, Germany, Russia and Ukraine. However, clashes between the warring parties continue despite the ceasefire.
According to the reintegration bill, its primary goal is "liberation of these territories and restoration of the power of the constitution there; the protection of rights, freedoms and legitimate concerns of Ukrainian citizens." The bill gives Poroshenko the right to use the country's military in the region and suggests a possibility of introducing martial rule.
