Donbas elections must be held after region stabilized – Poroshenko

Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko has said that local elections will not be held in Donbas before the situation stabilizes and all requirements of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) are met.

"New elections must be the linchpin of local self-governance in Donbas but they must be held when the conditions for conducting them meet the OSCE requirements," he said in an interview aired on the "1+1" television on Friday evening.

The elections "must be free, they must be democratic," Poroshenko said.

"All foreign armed formations must be removed from these territories. They must resume Ukrainian television and radio broadcasting, restore the work of political parties, ensure proper campaigns, provide working conditions for foreign observers and, as a result, the Ukrainian government will guarantee certain local self-governing powers," Poroshenko said.