Ukraine ratified an agreement with the European Union on Tuesday in order to put a damper on the independence drive of Russian-backed separatists by offering them temporary and limited self-rule, according to The Associated Press.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko had parliament's seal of approval for the EU deal, but his peacemaking efforts drew derision from separatists and some mainstream politicians, while his military reported three more deaths of Ukrainian servicemen despite an 11-day ceasefire, the AP reported.
"No nation has ever paid such a high price to become Europeans," Poroshenko told parliament referring to the bloody conflict that has gripped Ukraine since his predecessor, Viktor Yanukovich, walked away from the EU pact last November in favor of closer ties with Ukraine's former Soviet master, Russia, according to the AP.
After Yanukovich fled to Russia in February in the face of huge street protests, Moscow denounced a pro-Western "coup" against him, annexed Ukraine's Crimean peninsula and subsequently backed armed pro-Russian separatists in eastern regions in their drive for independence from Kiev, the AP reported.
Earlier, at a closed session of parliament, deputies voted in support of Poroshenko's plan to grant "special status' to the 'people's republics' proclaimed by the separatists, according to the AP.
Poroshenko elaborated the plan after reluctantly agreeing to a ceasefire on Sept. 5 following battlefield losses and heavy Ukrainian casualties which Kiev said were caused by Russian troops entering the fight on behalf of the rebels, the AP reported.
The law would grant self-rule to separatist-minded regions for a three-year period and allow them to "strengthen and deepen" relations with neighboring Russian regions, according to the AP. It would allow the heavily-armed rebels to set up their own police forces and hold their own local elections in December.
