US to Work With Kiev to Ensure Security During Eastern Ukraine Elections

According to the US secretary of state, the US and its allies will work with the Ukrainian authorities during the NATO Summit in Poland on draft security measures for elections in the Donbas region of Ukraine.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The United States and its allies will work with the Ukrainian authorities during the NATO Summit in Poland on draft security measures for elections in the Donbas region of Ukraine, US Secretary of State John Kerry said in a joint press conference with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on Thursday.

"In Warsaw, the United States will continue our work with Germany and France in order to chart a course with President Poroshenko and his team to ensure that the level of security necessary to be able to allow for elections and the other political aspects of Minsk are able to go forward," Kerry stated.

In late April, Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Vadym Prystaiko said that the Ukrainian authorities were ready to pass a law on elections in Donbas and hold them during the summer.

Earlier in June, the head of self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, Alexander Zakharchenko, said that Kiev must decide on holding the elections by July 14.

The law on elections in the breakaway eastern Ukrainian regions was one of the centerpieces of the Minsk peace accords, which were agreed in early 2015 by Germany, Russia, France and Ukraine.