Ukrainian President Pyotr Poroshenko officially announced that martial law in 10 regions of the country has terminated.
"It is exactly 14:00 and the martial law is terminated. This is my principal decision. It is based on the analysis of the current security situation in the state," Poroshenko told the Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council today.
On November 25, Ukraine's three boats illegally crossed the Russian maritime border as they sailed toward the Kerch Strait. The Ukrainian vessels were seized by Russia after failing to respond to a demand to stop. Following the incident, Poroshenko signed a decree declaring martial law in several Ukrainian regions located near the Russian border: Vinnytsia, Luhansk, Mykolaiv, Odesa, Sumy, Kharkiv, Chernihiv, Donetsk, Zaporizhia, Kherson, as well as in the internal waters of Ukraine's Azov-Kerch coastal area.
First Deputy Chairman of the Federation Council Committee on Foreign Affairs Vladimir Dzhabarov, speaking to Vestnik Kavkaza, noted that Pyotr Poroshenko has failed to achieve the full martial law across Ukraine to cancel the presidential election, therefore had to abandon this idea, especially since the West opposed it.
The director of the Center for Political Information, Alexei Mukhin, agreed that Pyotr Poroshenko's plan to cancel the presidential election and continue his presidency has failed: he was supported neither in the country, nor abroad. "Poroshenko does not have the opportunity to extend martial law even in the form in which it was introduced. Ukraine's MPs and presidential candidates showed that they are absolutely not interested in extending martial law. The whole situation shows that Petro Poroshenko can't get anything done in politics - and it only progresses with time," Alexei Mukhin said.
