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UKRAINE’S parliament gave preliminary approval to a Bill that would devolve autonomy to the separatist-controlled Donbass region.
MPs voted overwhelmingly by 228 votes to 58 to approve the Bill as visiting US Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland watched from the public gallery.
A tenuous armistice brokered by Russia and Germany in February called for a political resolution in the region including constitutional reform giving all Ukrainian regions — and the east specifically — more powers.
The Bill will now be sent to the Constitutional Court for scrutiny. Once approved, it will go back to parliament to be voted on again and later signed into law by President Petro Poroshenko.
“Ukraine will stay a unitary state,” Mr Poroshenko told parliament.
The war against anti-fascist forces in Donetsk and Lugansk has killed more than 6,400 people since April 2014.
