Martial law only option if peace plan fails: Ukraine speaker

Kiev, Sep 11 (IANS/ITAR -TASS) Martial law is the only option for settling the conflict in eastern Ukraine if the peace plan fails, Ukrainian parliament Speaker Alexander Turchinov said Thursday.

"If the peace plan fails, there is no alternative to martial law and mobilisation of all resources of the country," the speaker said. The constitution provides for declaration of martial law in special circumstances, he said.

"If the president takes the decision to submit such a decree, the parliament will always support it," he said.

Turchinov also said Ukraine needed to regroup and strengthen its armed forces, change the tactics of retaking cities in the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk people's republics, and build active defence lines along the border with Russia.

"Donbass (the industrial east of Ukraine) should not be turned into a zone of frozen conflict. This is our task," the speaker said.

On Sep 3, Russian President Vladimir Putin unveiled a seven-point peace plan for eastern Ukraine urging the conflicting sides to end offensive operations.

He also called for the pullback of armed forces out of the shelling range of civilian areas, an end to airstrikes, an exchange of all detainees, opening of humanitarian corridors, repairing damaged infrastructure and deploying international observers to monitor the ceasefire.

--IANS/ITAR-TASS

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