Ukrainian president’s envoy to the parliament, Ruslan Kniazevych, earlier said the move was necessary to improve social services in some of the region’s districts that are under the Kiev government’s control.
Earlier, the head of the self-proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic said that Ukrainian president's initiative to change administrative borders of the Luhansk region is baseless.
The status of Ukraine's eastern regions remains a stumbling block to the settlement of the country's crisis. On September 16, the Ukrainian parliament approved a bill granting special status to the self-proclaimed Luhansk and Donetsk people's republics for the next three years.
The law gave the Ukrainian Cabinet and other central executive bodies the power to sign agreements with local administrative bodies on social, economic, cultural and other issues. The bill stated that local elections are to take place in the regions on December 7. It also guaranteed the right to use and study Russian or any other Ukrainian language.
Donetsk and Luhansk leaders have laid claim to the whole territory within the borders of the respective administrative entities in Ukraine and want full independence.
The conflict began in early April, when the residents of Donetsk and Luhansk regions refused to recognize the legitimacy of the new government and proclaimed the establishment of the People's Republics. Following a referendum in May, they declared themselves independent states. Kiev refused to recognize the new republics as sovereign states and launched a military operation to suppress the independence supporters.
