Ukraine in Arabic | Ukraine leader Petro Poroshenko announces unilateral ceasefire imminent
Kiev\Ukraine in Arabic\Hopes rising for a ceasefire in Ukraine after new president talks to Russia leader Vladimir Putin despite emergency security measures on gas pipelines in wake of explosion.
Petro Poroshenko, Ukraine's new president, has announced plans to order a unilateral ceasefire in the separatist east as a first step to ending the 10-week insurgency.
"The peace plan begins with my order for a unilateral ceasefire," the Interfax-Ukraine news agency reported.
"Immediately after that, we must receive support for the presidential peace plan from all sides involved (in the conflict). This should happen very shortly."
Mr Poroshenko's announcement came after a phone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday in which the two leaders discussed a long-term solution to the pro-Kremlin uprising gripping Ukraine's eastern rustbelt since early April.
The Ukrainian leader's office said the two presidents "discussed a series of priority measures that must be undertaken to implement a ceasefire, as well as the most efficient ways to monitor it."The Kremlin confirmed that "the issue of a possible ceasefire in the area of the military operation in Ukraine's southeast had been touched upon."
Mr Poroshenko's has demanded Mr Putin formally recognise the new leadership in Ukraine.
The 48-year-old tycoon won Ukraine's May 25 presidential election on a promise to quickly end the country's worst crisis since its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.
Mr Poroshenko said the ceasefire was meant to be a temporary measures designed to give the pro-Russian militants a chance to disarm.
Ukraine's prime minister ordered security to be reinforced on the country's gas pipeline network on Wednesday to prevent sabotage after a bomb attack on a pipeline.
The explosion on the pipeline in Ukraine's Poltava region that carries Russian gas to the rest of Europe came after Moscow cut supplies to Kiev in a long-standing pricing row.
Though there were no casualties and gas flows were not interrupted, the blast increased tension as Kiev, which is trying to end an uprising by pro-Russian separatists, said it was aimed at discrediting Ukraine as a reliable supplier.
After hearing a report by Arsen Avakov, the interior minister, that the explosion had been caused by a bomb placed under a concrete support, Arseny Yatseniuk, the prime minister, ordered security to be strengthened at pipeline installations.
"We foresaw some weeks ago that sabotage action would be planned - the aim being to undermine Ukraine's reputation as a reliable transit partner," mr Yatseniuk said.
"We assume that the explosive device was placed under a concrete block supporting the pipeline and that there were two explosions," Avakov told the government meeting. "External interference is the main cause we are focusing on," he said.
The Telegraph