Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko says he expects amendments to the constitution regarding the decentralization of the governing bodies to be adopted in the fall of 2015.

"I hope the Constitutional Commission is about to finalize draft amendments to [the constitution] regarding decentralization, and you, the distinguished people's deputies, will forward them to the Constitutional Court as early as during the current session so as to pass them finally in the fall. This is how I see the calendar of this reform," Poroshenko said in his annual address to the Verkhovna Rada on Thursday.

The president insisted at the same time that decentralization has nothing in common with federalization. "Ukraine has been and will be a unitary state," he said.