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Ukraine ratifies EU pact

Rebels vow separation despite Kiev's self-rule offer; violence rages; Russia to deploy reinforcements to Crimea area

AFP, Kiev
Ukrainian lawmakers ratified a landmark EU pact yesterday that steers the ex-Soviet state closer to the West, and pledged autonomy for proRussian rebels waging war in the east.
But Russia signalled it had no intention of backing down in the most serious East-West standoff since the Cold war, with the announcement it plans to boost its troop presence in annexed Crimea.
Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said it was a "priority" to send reinforcements to the Black Sea peninsula because of what he described as the
escalating Ukraine crisis and the buildup of foreign troops on its border.
The European and Ukrainian parliaments earlier held simultaneous votes to approve the political and economic association agreement that lies at the heart of the country's worst crisis since independence in 1991 when the Soviet Union collapsed.
Lawmakers in Kiev voted to grant self-rule to the separatist east and offer amnesty to rebel fighters under a peace plan drawn up 11 days ago to halt the bloody five-month conflict.
Insurgent leaders reacted cautiously to the moves, although they insist they want nothing less than full independence in the industrial regions that have been outside Kiev's control since April.
Poroshenko said the adoption of the 1,200-page association agreement with the European Union was Ukraine's first step towards membership of the 28-nation bloc.
European parliament president Martin Schulz described the ratification as a "historic moment" that met the "dreams of the people who fought for democracy" in Ukraine.
But the occasion was muted by a decision to bow to Russian pressure and delay until 2016 the implementation of a free trade deal that would pull Ukraine out of a rival Kremlin-led customs union.
The rejection of the broad EU pact by Kremlin-backed president Viktor Yanukovych in November triggered the bloody chain of events that led to his ouster in February, Russia's subsequent seizure of Crimea and the unleashing of the revolt in the east.
The conflict has now .claimed almost 2,900 lives ■ and sent at least 600,000 ! people fleeing their homes, ■ accordingto UN figures.
But a European-mediated truce that Kiev and Moscow clinched on September 5 has offered the first significant glimmer of hope that the crisis in Ukraine may be abating.
However, both sides accuse the other of repeated violations and officials said yesterday that five civilians and three Ukrainian soldiers had been killed around the rebel stronghold of Donetsk in the past 24 hours.
Under the terms of the truce, lawmakers adopted "special status" legislation that offers three years of limited self-rule to the coal and steel belt known as the Donbass that generates a quarter of Ukraine's exports.
Poroshenko argued Monday that his plan offered the best way out of the crisis because it guarantees "the sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence of our state".
But some political leaders in Kiev and especially members of right-winggroups that played a small but instrumental role in the protests that forced out the old regime, have questioned whether Poroshenko is ceding too much to Moscow.
The legislation calls for local polls in Donetsk and Lugansk in December and allows local legislatures to set up their own police forces and name judges and prosectors.
Crucially, it also guarantees the right for Russian to be used in all state institutions - a particularly sensitive issue in the mainly Russian-speaking regions.