BRUSSELS
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has slammed upcoming elections in the rebel-held Donetsk and Luhansk regions of the country.
Speaking at a news conference in Brussels on Thursday, Poroshenko dismissed the "illegal elections," saying they would not meet OSCE standards.
"With armed people on the street, without solving the question of security, without foreign observers, these elections are not acceptable because they do not meet international standards," Poroshenko said during a joint press conference with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker.
The polls are scheduled for October 18 and November 1.
Poroshenko’s visit to Brussels comes one day after Ukraine and pro-Russian separatists agreed to end all truce violations starting from next Tuesday (September 1). There have been constant clashes and accusations of violating the ceasefire from both sides.
However, Poroshenko called for a speeding up of the agreement.
"I think we shouldn’t wait until September; who knows how many lives we will pay until waiting till 1st September," he said.
The conflict in eastern Ukraine erupted in April last year following Russia’s annexation of Crimea. More than 6,500 people have been killed in the conflict since.
