Poroshenko did not renew the ceasefire in eastern Ukraine

President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko, following a meeting of the National Security and Defense Council, refused to extend the ceasefire in the eastern regions of the country. On Tuesday night, he made an appeal. The text is published on the website of the head of state.

The ceasefire that lasted ten days was broken by militants more than a hundred times, Poroshenko noted. "The political leadership of the separatists demonstrated the unwillingness and inability to control the actions of their terrorist units and gangs of looters," he emphasized.

"The cancellation of the decision of the Federation Council on permission to introduce Russian troops to Ukraine had a positive but symbolic meaning. We did not wait for specific steps to de -escalate the situation. Including in terms of strengthening control over the border," Poroshenko noted.

The decision to end the truce does not mean a rejection of a peaceful plan, the President of Ukraine emphasized. The provisions on decentralization, the free use of the Russian language, the restoration of lost housing at the expense of the state, as well as a joint program with the EU, remain in force. Poroshenko did not exclude that a return to a truce is possible if all sides adhere to the peaceful plan and "on the other side of the eastern border, the red light of saboteurs and weapons suppliers caught fire."

Poroshenko later held a telephone conversation by US Secretary of State John Kerry, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande, the presidential press service reports . Poroshenko noted that Ukraine was unilaterally adhered to the ceasefire in the Donbass for ten days and paid for this by dozens of lives of military and civilians killed by terrorists. Due to the ignoring terrorists of the DPR and LPR, the possibilities for dialogue and the restoration of the world in the Donbass, the anti-terrorist operation is resuming.

The condition for political negotiations, Poroshenko noted, will be a “bilateral ceasefire, the introduction of reliable control on the Ukrainian-Russian border during monitoring and verification of the OSCE, and the release of all illegally kept hostages.”

On June 20, Poroshenko announced the ceasefire for seven days. On June 27, he extended the truce for another 72 hours , until 22:00 (23:00 Moscow time) Monday. On Sunday, fighters of the Volunteer battalions Donbass, Dnipro and Aydar, the Council of Hundreds and Public Organizations of the Maidan held a rally near the building of the Presidential Administration. They demanded to stop the ceasefire in the east of the country and introduce martial law there.