KIEV (Sputnik) — The National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine has determined the boundaries of areas in the south-east of the country where a special status of local self-government will be introduced in line with Minsk peace accords.
According to the council's deputy secretary, Mykhaylo Koval, the special status will be introduced in some areas in the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk people's republics along the line of contact determined by Minsk agreements on September 19, 2014.
The special status will not apply to areas that had been captured by Donbas armed militia after September 19, Koval stressed.
A law granting "special status" to parts of the breakaway regions was introduced by Kiev in the fall of 2014, following the peace talks in Belarusian capital Minsk, but was abolished shortly after.
The most recent Minsk talks on Ukraine reconciliation resulted in a number of agreements aimed at de-escalation of tensions in the war-torn Donbas Region, including a ceasefire, which became effective on February 15, and heavy weaponry withdrawal from the line of contact.
The peace deal also stipulated Kiev's decentralization of power ahead of wider constitutional reform in the country.
