Poroshenko vows to regain lost regions and restore peace under Minsk accord

Ukraine has pledged to regain full control of its territory this year by ending a Russian-backed insurgency in the east, and called for agreement on a new timetable for implementation of a fragile peace deal supposed to be fulfilled in 2015.

President Petro Poroshenko said his priority for this year was "to ensure peace and, I emphasise, to return Ukraine to Donbas", using a collective name for Donetsk and Luhansk regions that are partly controlled by separatist fighters.

“In 2016 the full re-establishment of Ukrainian sovereignty should take place,” Mr Poroshenko said in a press conference yesterday, calling on the rebels and Russia to fully implement the so-called Minsk peace agreements.

“Now the Minsk agreements need a new road map – new dates – for when the sides will undertake to implement all its points, without exception.”

The opposing sides continue to interpret the deal very differently, however. More than 18 months of on-off fighting in eastern Ukraine has killed more than 9,000 people, injured more than 20,000 and displaced some two million.

Heavy weapons

Though casualties and artillery exchanges have decreased in recent months, clashes still occur and international monitors say Ukrainian and separatist forces have not withdrawn all heavy weapons from areas stipulated in the Minsk deal.

Three Ukrainian soldiers and two separatist fighters have been reported killed so far this year, amid warnings the ceasefire was again starting to fray.

Mr Poroshenko said Kiev had “irrefutable evidence – satellite pictures and intelligence video – showing Ukraine’s borders being crossed by the latest Russian military equipment and units of the Russian armed forces”.

Moscow denies such claims, but they are supported by western allies that back Kiev and have imposed economic sanctions on Russia for fomenting the separatist insurgency and annexing Crimea in March 2014. “The battle to return Crimea also remains an important priority. We propose the creation of an international mechanism for the de-occupation of the peninsula,” Mr Poroshenko said, calling for the US and EU to join Ukraine and Russia in talks to resolve the dispute.

Withholding electricity

Amid a deepening trade war between Ukraine and Russia, Kiev has stopped supplying electricity to Crimea on several occasions in recent months. Mr Poroshenko insisted Kiev was willing to sign an energy supply deal immediately, as long as it stated Crimea was Ukrainian territory.