KIEV, May 05. /ITAR-TASS/. “A civil war provoked by the Kiev authorities” responsible for the “death of dozens of people” is raging in Ukraine, the Luhansk Regional Council said in a statement on Monday, May 5.

“Half of the country has been classified as law offenders and terrorists only because people see the future of their own country differently than the politicians who have come to power,” the statement said. “Instead of talking to them, clearing up positions and finding compromises, Kiev has started not a counter-terrorism but a terrorist operation against millions of people. This first army operation in the contemporary history of Europe against fellow citizens which uses both regular army units and paramilitary groups is a blatant act of terror against the people,” the document said.

The authors of the document stressed that “the authorities are provoking and organizing confrontation between people in the south-east of the country and using political repressions against dissidents." "Mass arrests of civil activists in the Kharkiv Region, the bloodbath in Odessa where ultras and neo-Nazis were sent, the hysterical euphoria of jingoists over the death of peaceful people in Odessa’s Trade Union House indicate that the incumbent authorities have excluded from their political arsenal all civilized and democratic mechanisms for resolving contradictions. The killing of civil activists in Odessa has become the last redline in settling the conflict peacefully. Ukraine may be facing its last choice between stopping the violence and letting it go out of control. Any new forceful actions on the part of the central authorities in the rebellious territories will inevitably lead to the paralysis and collapse of Ukrainian statehood," the statement said

Members of the Luhansk Regional Council urged the Kiev authorities to immediately stop all punitive operations, pull back the troops to their bases, disarm paramilitary groups, return to the February 21 agreement signed by Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych and the opposition in the presence of foreign diplomats, pass a law on amnesty for all protesters in south-eastern Ukraine, disarm all illegal far-right groups, primarily the Right Sector, start constitutional reform, make Russian a second official language, and give the local authorities broader powers.

Only then “will it be possible to begin preparations for presidential elections which would be senseless and irresponsible now given the present circumstances”.

The authors of the statement urged the European Union, US and Russian leaders to demand that Kiev “immediately begin negotiations with representatives of south-eastern Ukraine, including insurgents, and continue international negotiations on Ukraine”.