KIEV, July 1 (RIA Novosti) – Ukrainian authorities on Tuesday renewed the active phase of special operations in the country’s east and are firing on pro-independence forces, Ukrainian parliament Speaker Oleksandr Turchynov said.
Turchynov said during a parliamentary session that he had spoken with the Ukrainian defense minister.
“The active phase of the anti-terrorist operation was renewed Tuesday morning, our forces have commenced fire,” Turchynov said, referring to his earlier conversation with the acting defense minister and the interior minister.
Turchynov’s statement comes after Kiev announced that the armed forces, national guard, border troops and security service are no longer restrained by the ceasefire.
Early on Tuesday, Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko announced his decision against another extension of the ceasefire in east Ukraine, initially declared on June 20 as part of his 15-step peace plan.
According to Poroshenko, the move to call off the ceasefire was dictated by the fact that protection of Ukraine’s territorial integrity, safety and the lives of civilians require offensive as well as defensive action against independence supporters.
At the same time Ukraine’s government promised to stick to the implementation of the peace plan, which envisages disarmament, decentralization, unrestricted use of the Russian language and reconstruction of destroyed housing at the government’s expense.
