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).