KIEV (AFP) ― Ukraine’s election body voiced fears Saturday that it may be impossible to hold next weekend’s presidential poll in the east, where a pro-Moscow insurgency is threatening to plunge the country into all-out civil war.
The warning came as Ukraine’s embattled government held a second round of “national unity” dialogue under a Western-backed plan to try to defuse the crisis, but failed to report any progress.
Late Saturday, a Ukrainian foreign ministry source said Kiev has asked Russia to take joint measures to “stabilize the borders” between the two countries. In Moscow, the foreign ministry confirmed that the request was being examined.
Russia has insisted that Kiev must first halt its month-long offensive against the rebels, questioning the legitimacy of an election held under “the thunder of guns.”
While Saturday’s talks in the eastern city of Kharkiv included a broad spectrum of Ukrainian politicians, including pro-Russians, no separatist leaders were invited.
“Round tables are beautiful things but they won’t solve anything,” said Aleksandr Borodai, “prime minister” of the rebels’ self-declared People’s Republic of Donetsk, one of the rebel-held areas in the east.
The West sees next Sunday’s election as crucial to defusing the crisis on Europe’s eastern flank and preventing the recession-hit country from disintegrating further after Russia’s annexation of Crimea.
But the Central Election Commission said it could not prepare for the vote in the east because of threats and “illegal actions” by separatists who have overrun more than a dozen towns and cities since early April.
It called for the authorities in Kiev to take urgent action to ensure security, saying that violence could prevent almost 2 million people from voting on May 25, when some 36 million overall will be called to the polls.
koreaherald@heraldcorp.com
