Kiev to Enforce Complete Blockade Over 'Cancerous Tumor' of Donbass - MP

An MP from the Petro Poroshenko Bloc has suggested to his fellow deputies that the territories under the control of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics should be subjected to a complete economic blockade, calling them a "cancerous tumor."

Speaking before colleagues in the Rada on Tuesday, Poroshenko Bloc leader Yuriy Lutsenko explained that Kiev's blockade against anti-Kiev forces in the Lugansk region should be expanded to Donetsk as well.

"The president believes that the cancerous tumor [referring to the territories not under Kiev's control] is  subject to blockade. The practice of the head of the Lugansk military-civil administration Hennadiy Moskal, who has prohibited any movement of vehicles into and out of the occupied territory, is the correct policy."

Lutsenko called on the government to take 'strategic steps' to accelerate the reintegration of territories outside of Kiev's control. In his view, this will require the strengthening of the line of demarcation, and the establishment of a complete economic blockade of these areas. 

"Either the Russian Federation removes its terrorist groups and gives Kiev the opportunity to reestablish control over the state border, or we will temporarily create a blockade on the front line," Lutsenko stated.

The Poroshenko Bloc deputy also proposed the establishment of zones of priority economic development in the areas of Lugansk and Donetsk under Kiev's control, and in the Kharkiv and Odessa regions. "The middle class must leave the occupied territories, and receive loans for job creation," Lutsenko stated. He proposed that Ukraine create an effective pro-Kiev propaganda campaign in local media and social networks, something which Donbass residents subject to blockade, bombing and being called a 'cancerous tumor' may frankly find difficult to accept.

Donbass residents have been experiencing a humanitarian catastrophe as a result of a military operation launched by Kiev in April 2014, following local uprisings by residents opposed to the results of the Maidan coup d'etat. Kiev imposed an economic blockade on the region in November, 2014, leading to the withdrawal of all state support for state support for health, educational and social services.