Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko agrees to referendum on powers for restive region

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on Monday publicly lifted his objections to a referendum that could give more powers to the restive regions engulfed in more than a year of warfare, reversing his government's previous position. Russia-backed separatists, however, dismissed Poroshenko's gesture as meaningless.

The conflict between Russia-backed rebels and government troops in eastern Ukraine has claimed more than 6,000 lives. When it began, protesters in the east demanded a vote on giving their regions more autonomy. Such calls were rejected by the Ukrainian government at the time.

But Poroshenko on Monday met a parliamentary commission that is drafting amendments to the country's main law and said in a televised meeting that if the commission decides a referendum is necessary, he would not stand in the way.

"I'm ready to launch a referendum on the issue of state governance if you decide it is necessary," he said.

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Ukraine's eastern industrial heartland was the support base for Kremlin-friendly President Viktor Yanukovych, who was ousted in February last year after months of protests. Several months into the fighting, however, pro-Russia rebels said they no longer wanted autonomy, but rather an independent state.

Hostilities have subsided in the region after the parties agreed in February to a cease-fire deal brokered by Western leaders in Minsk, Belarus.

Russia-backed separatists on Monday balked at the idea of a referendum as offering too little.

Senior rebel officials Andrei Purgin told The Associated Press on Monday that none of their representatives were invited to sit on the constitutional commission to start with, "which already says a lot."

"Everything that Kyiv does shows that they have to decide to find agreement but dictate their terms to us, which contradicts the Minsk accords," Purgin said, adding that "Poroshenko's statement does not mean anything" because there are no details of the referendum — if it happens at all.

Poroshenko on Monday insisted that he still opposed the idea of federalization, which Russia has advocated, but he is in favor of decentralizing power in favor of the regions. He specified decision-making on security, defense and foreign policy would remain in the hands of the central government.

Poroshenko also added that he still doesn't support making Russian a second official language. "Ukrainian has been and will be our only state language."

Purgin said Poroshenko's insistence shows that "he doesn't listen to the voice of the east: we speak Russian here."