Bloomberg News
Ukraine said it will call a unilateral cease-fire in days to help end three months of clashes with pro-Russian separatists that have rocked its easternmost regions.
President Petro Poroshenko said insurgents will be given a limited window to lay down their arms, with those who haven't committed any serious crimes to be offered an amnesty and safe passage out of the country. He spoke yesterday by phone with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on how to stem the unrest after two journalists for Russian state television were killed.
'The peace plan will begin with my decree on a unilateral cease-fire,' Poroshenko said today in his website. 'The cease-fire will be quite short. We expect that there will be an immediate surrender of weapons, peace and order.'
Ukraine has been battling separatists after Russia annexed its Black Sea Crimea peninsula in March. It accuses its neighbor of stoking pro-Russian unrest by supplying weapons, military vehicles and mercenaries. Russia denies aiding the insurgents and is calling on Ukraine to halt an offensive to rein them in. The two nations are also in conflict over gas, with Russia cutting off supplies two days ago because of unpaid bills.
Russia's ruble strengthened for the first time in six days against the dollar, gaining 0.8 percent, while the Micex stock index advanced 0.7 percent, data compiled by Bloomberg show. The yield on Ukrainian dollar debt due 2023 plunged 27 basis points to 9.02 percent, the lowest since June 13.
Putin Call
Poroshenko said preparations have begun to implement his 14-step peace plan, under which a 'large part of the peaceful population will take advantage of safety guarantees.' He's said previously that before the plan can be undertaken, Ukraine must first reassert control over its border with Russia, from where fighters have crossed into the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
'The issue of a possible cease-fire in the area of the military operation in Ukraine's southeast was touched upon,' the Kremlin said last night after Putin and Poroshenko spoke.
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev earlier condemned Ukraine over the death of reporter Igor Kornelyuk, killed by mortar fire in the violence-torn Luhansk region in the nation's east. Sound producer Anton Voloshin, also from the Russian State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company, was found dead later, the Interfax news service said, citing separatist forces.
'Those who call themselves the authorities in neighboring Ukraine answer for the situation there and it's in their power to halt the bloodshed,' Medvedev said on his Facebook account.
Poroshenko ordered a probe into the deaths, as did the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, which has tried to broker a peace plan.
Russia should sanction Ukrainian leaders responsible for civilian deaths, Alexey Pushkov, chairman of the lower house of parliament's international affairs committee, told reporters in Moscow today. Ukraine isn't doing anything to implement its peace plan, Pushkov said.
To contact the reporters on this story: Daryna Krasnolutska in Kiev at dkrasnolutsk@bloomberg.net; Kateryna Choursina in Kiev at kchoursina@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Balazs Penz at bpenz@bloomberg.net Andrew Langley
Entities 0 Name: Ukraine Count: 7 1 Name: Russia Count: 6 2 Name: Poroshenko Count: 3 3 Name: Kiev Count: 2 4 Name: Luhansk Count: 2 5 Name: Anton Voloshin Count: 1 6 Name: Pushkov Count: 1 7 Name: Interfax Count: 1 8 Name: Vladimir Putin Count: 1 9 Name: Kremlin Count: 1 10 Name: Putin Count: 1 11 Name: Ukrainian Count: 1 12 Name: Dmitry Medvedev Count: 1 13 Name: Bloomberg Count: 1 14 Name: Russian Count: 1 15 Name: Micex Count: 1 16 Name: Balazs Penz Count: 1 17 Name: Petro Poroshenko Count: 1 18 Name: Putin Call Poroshenko Count: 1 19 Name: Bloomberg News Ukraine Count: 1 20 Name: Russian State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company Count: 1 21 Name: Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe Count: 1 22 Name: Black Sea Crimea Count: 1 23 Name: Medvedev Count: 1 24 Name: Daryna Krasnolutska Count: 1 25 Name: Igor Kornelyuk Count: 1 26 Name: Alexey Pushkov Count: 1 27 Name: Kateryna Choursina Count: 1 28 Name: Donetsk Count: 1 29 Name: Moscow Count: 1 Related 0 Url: http://ift.tt/1qlrL4G Title: Ukraine Says Russia Has 38,000 Troops on Border Amid 'Invasion' Description: Russia has amassed as many as 38,000 soldiers on its borders with Ukraine and continues to supply arms and personnel to rebel forces in the eastern part of the country, Ukraine's National Security Council chief said.
