KIEV, June 26. /TASS/. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said on Friday that representatives from the self-proclaimed eastern republics of Donetsk and Luhansk had participated in drafting amendments to Ukraine’s constitution.
"It is very important that Donbas representatives have taken part in drafting these constitutional changes. It is politically correct," Poroshenko said.
"Opinion polls support our idea of an emphatic rejection of federalisation. Ukraine will remain a unitary state," he said, adding that "there will be no compromise on the issue".
The president also said that the draft amendments would be submitted to the country's parliament for consideration next week before being forwarded to the constitutional court. He asked the Verkhovna Rada to "demonstrate compromise" while approving the changes.
Authorities in the Donetsk and Luhansk republics earlier claimed that all their proposals for Ukraine’s constitutional make-up had been left unanswered.
Constitutional reform is an important part of the February 12 comprehensive action plan to fulfil the Minsk accords worked out by leaders of Russia, Ukraine, Germany and France in the search for peace in the embattled eastern Donbas region.
A key element of reform is decentralisation of government with respect to the peculiarities of certain areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions agreed with their representatives, as well as adopting permanent legislation on the special status of certain Donbas areas.