Map of the current situation. Blue arrows show directions of Ukrainian forces advencments
As Kyiv offensive to retake control of restive areas along the country's eastern border has accelerated in recent days, leaders of an armed pro-Russia uprising now prompting to appeal to Moscow for urgent military help.
Pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine on Wednesday night rejected an offer by President Petro Poroshenko for a unilateral ceasefire.
"Our interest is that the occupants leave our territory," Denis Pushilin, the leader of the self-declared Donetsk People's Republic, told the Russian Dozhd TV channel.
The news comes after Poroshenko said in Kiev that the government will announce a short unilateral ceasefire to allow the separatists to lay down their arms and restore order.
Pushilin, who is currently in Moscow, seeking from Russian leadership for more assistance, said that the offer could hardly be called constructive. "They stop firing, we disarm and they take us unarmed. That is Kiev's logic," he said.
The ceasefire is part of a wider peace plan announced by Poroshenko on Monday. It would be followed by an amnesty for insurgents and constitutional amendments that give more power to the regions.
The President did not say when the plan would be implemented. But Ukraine's acting defence Mykhailo Koval said that it would happen in the next few days, the Interfax Ukraine news agency reported.
Poroshenko had discussed the plan in telephone conversations with Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, his office said.
Ukrainian government forces have been waging a military campaign against armed separatists in the eastern Donetsk and Luhansk provinces for two months. More than 300 people have been killed in the fighting, according to official government figures.
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