Ukraine Ratifies EU Pact Amid Fragile Ceasefire
Updated: 2:30pm UK, Tuesday 16 September 2014
Ukrainian MPs have voted to strengthen the country's political and economic ties with the European Union - the very issue which first sparked the crisis last year.
Before the ratification of the agreement, President Petro Poroshenko told parliament that Ukrainians who lost their lives in the protests and subsequent fighting in the east "died not only for their motherland - they gave up their lives for us to take a dignified place among the European family".
Shying away from such a pact resulted in the ousting of then president Victor Yanukovych in November 2013, who instead chose to establish stronger ties with Russia.
It also led to the annexation of Crimea by Russia and an ongoing five-month war with pro-Russian separatists which has claimed the lives of more than 2,600 people.
Earlier, MPs also agreed to grant greater autonomy to the rebel regions in eastern Ukraine, and an amnesty for most of those involved in the fighting as part of a fragile ceasefire which has repeatedly been broken since it came into effect 10 days ago.
Three people were killed and five wounded when their homes were struck by shells overnight in the eastern city of Donetsk.
Reports of the latest fatalities of the crisis came as Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu talked of a need to send extra troops to Crimea because of the increase in fighting.
"The deployment of proper and self-sufficient forces in the direction of Crimea is one of (our) top priorities," Russian news agency Itar-Tass reported him saying.
"The situation in Ukraine has escalated sharply and the presence of foreign military has increased in the immediate vicinity of our borders."
The chain of events since last November has provoked the worst crisis between Russia and the West since the Cold War, with the United States and its Western allies imposing sanctions against Moscow.
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