KYIV, Ukraine (AP) Russia and European powers, anxious to end a protracted military conflict in eastern Ukraine, on Wednesday welcomed the new accord between Ukraine and Russia-backed separatists but many in Ukraine dismissed it as a capitulation to Russia.
In the deal signed Tuesday with the separatists, Ukraine, Russia and European mediators pledged to hold a local election in Ukraines rebel-held east, where a grinding five-year conflict between the separatists and Ukrainian troops has killed more than 13,000 people.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy hailed the deal as a major step toward resolving the conflict, and the election pledge was seen as the final hurdle before a much-anticipated summit between Zelenskiy, Russian President Vladimir Putin and the leaders of France and Germany, who have helped mediate the peace talks. Russia had previously refused to sit down with Zelenskiy before he agreed on the plan for the local election in war-torn eastern Ukraine.
But other Ukrainian politicians raised alarms about it, saying it opens the door to cementing Russias presence in the region.
This is capitulation to Russia, former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, now a lawmaker, told reporters in parliament on Wednesday.
Poroshenko said the deal is playing into Russias hands because Ukraine committed to holding the local election but did not receive any guarantees that it would regain control over of all of its border with Russia.
Lawmaker Andriy Parubiy, former parliament speaker, said he would push for hearings into the peace deal, accusing Zelenskiys new administration of sidelining society from the decision-making in such a crucial development for the nation.
Zelenskiys party holds a majority in parliament after resoundingly defeating Poroshenko and Parubiys allies in an early election this summer.
A few hundred people, mostly nationalists, protested the deal outside the presidential administration in Kyiv on Tuesday night and on the Maidan square that has symbolized protests against Russian influence. A dozen rallied outside parliament on Wednesday and another Maidan protest was planned.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Wednesday welcomed the Ukraine peace deal as a positive step to implementing the 2015 peace deal and said the date for the summit of the four leaders is to be announced soon.
While Russia once bankrolled the separatists, sending troops and equipment across the border to the separatists, the Kremlin has tried to play down its involvement in eastern Ukraine in recent years, pulling back its troops and mostly relying on proxy forces. Anxious to get Europe to lift at least some of the sanctions over its involvement in Ukraine, Putin agreed on a major prisoner exchange with Ukraine last month.
The United States and the European Union slapped Russia with a flurry of sanctions over its annexation of Crimea in 2014 and its support for the separatists in eastern Ukraine, which has hurt substantial bilateral trade between Russia and Europe.
Businesses in the EU in France and Germany in particular have been pushing for the EU to ease the sanctions but European political leaders have insisted this can only be done if there is progress on the peace settlement for eastern Ukraine.
French President Emmanuel Macron met with Putin and Zelenskiy separately this summer, encouraging them to relaunch the peace talks. While praising Zelenskiy for reaching out to residents in the rebel-held territories, Macron supported the decision to give back Russia its voting rights at the Council of Europe and signaled that he would support Russia returning to the Group of Seven, the worlds biggest economies, if there is progress in the Ukraine peace settlement.
In Berlin, a spokeswoman for Chancellor Angela Merkel praised Tuesdays accord as an important step toward a peace settlement in eastern Ukraine.
