Poroshenko: Local elections may be held in Donbas in 2016 if proper conditions provided

Local elections may be held in Donbas in 2016 if the necessary conditions are provided, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said.

"I do not rule this out," Poroshenko told journalists in Kramatorsk on Saturday when asked whether local elections in Donbas might be held in 2016.

When there is security and when there is a stable ceasefire controlled by an armed international mission on the line of contact and on the border with Russia, then elections can be held and "occupied territories" can be returned under Ukraine's sovereignty, Poroshenko said.

"I trust Donbas, there are Ukrainians there as well, and they are in horrible humanitarian and socioeconomic conditions," he said.