DONETSK, November 27. /TASS/. Ukraine’s martial law may prevent Kiev from meeting its commitments under the Minsk peace deal, Envoy of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) to the Contact Group and Acting Foreign Minister Natalia Nikonorova said on Tuesday.
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"The imposition of martial law in Ukraine will significantly reduce Kiev’s chances to meet its commitments under the Minsk accords," Nikonorova said. During martial law both presidential and parliamentary elections as well as any constitutional amendments are banned, she explained. "This stonewalls confirming the Donbass special law in the key law and fulfilling all political aspects of the Package of Measures," she told the Donetsk News Agency.
According to the DPR envoy, this enables Ukraine’s authorities to pursue their current policy towards hindering the implementation of the Minsk peace deal. Martial law in Ukraine will give a free hand to Ukraine’s forces, triggering a new wave of the conflict escalation, she warned.
Earlier in the day, Ukraine’s parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, endorsed President Pyotr Poroshenko’s decree on imposing a 30-day martial law from November 28 in the Vinnitsa, Lugansk, Nikolayevsk, Odessa, Sumy, Kharkov, Chernigov, Donetsk, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions, as well as Ukraine’s territorial waters in the Sea of Azov. Initially, Poroshenko sought to impose martial law for 60 days, but this put into question holding the March presidential election and sparked a public outcry.
The pretext for the decision to declare martial law was an incident in the Kerch Strait on November 25, when three Ukrainian warships, en route from Odessa to Mariupol, illegally crossed Russia’s state border, entered Russia’s territorial waters and started performing dangerous maneuvers.
Despite the repeated warnings and demands to stop, the Ukrainian vessels continued their way, forcing Russia to use weapons. All three Ukrainian ships were detained in the Black Sea. Three Ukrainian servicemen were slightly wounded and received medical assistance, and their lives are not under threat. A criminal case has been launched over the violation of Russia’s state border. Moscow slammed the incident as a provocation.