Ukraine orders closure of state services in rebel-held east

Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko issued a decree today ordering the withdrawal of all state services from the rebel-held eastern regions, a fresh acknowledgement of them effectively breaking away.
The order covers services such as schools, hospitals and emergency services, a senior security official speaking on condition of anonymity told AFP.
It comes just over a week after Kiev announced passport controls around pro-Russian separatist areas in the east, as well as the end of state payments including pensions to those in the areas.
Seven months of fighting between Ukrainian forces and pro-Moscow separatists with strongholds in eastern Ukrainian cities such as Donetsk and Lugansk have killed more than 4,100 people, the United Nations says.

The latest decree said that Poroshenko told his cabinet to take steps within a week "to terminate the activities of state enterprises, institutions and organisations in the various territories where anti-terrorist operations are being conducted".
"This is a decisive step, the games have stopped," the security official added. "All the structures that the state finances will be withdrawn from there."

"Ukraine will no longer finance them. This includes schools, kindergartens and hospitals."
The latest move comes with the unrest in Ukraine high on the agenda at a G20 summit in Brisbane, where Western leaders are piling fresh pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Russia denies involvement in the conflict, in which a shaky ceasefire agreed in September is in place, stopping some frontline fighting but not artillery bombardments around strategic hotspots.
The latest decree also included orders for the evacuation of state workers plus the withdrawal of all courts and judges and relocation of prisoners.
In addition, it proposed that Ukraine's central bank take steps over the next month to withdraw all banking services for businesses and individuals in the regions.