Former Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma, delegated by current President Petro Poroshenko to hold talks with pro-Russian separatists in the country's east, told journalists after a wreath-laying ceremony at the monument to the first Ukrainian Constitution in central Kyiv:
"Once Russia understands that peace is better than war; once Russia realizes that you can't turn Donbas region into, say, another Transdniester, then it will find approaches to calm down all these so-called influential leaders [eds: referring to pro-Russian separatists], because they are representatives of Russia -- let's put it this way."
"What is the point in negotiations with [separatists] today? We will wait till Monday (eds: the end of the extended cease-fire). I expect that by then finally the European Union and the United States of America will realize who is who. They mustn't leave Ukraine one on one [with separatists]."
The commander of the "Donbass" Battalion, Semen Semenchenko, has called for the imposition of martial law in eastern Ukraine, our Ukrainian Service is reporting (in Ukrainian).
The OSCE's representative for media freedom on the situation in eastern Ukraine: