U.S. Special Representative for Ukraine Negotiations Kurt Volker has said that Ukraine needs to extend the law on the specifics of local self-government in certain areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions in order to deprive Russia of the opportunity to use this as a reproach against Ukraine.

Ukraine has done its part on the Minsk agreements, it has prepared both a law on local elections, and on amnesty and other laws, he said during a panel discussion at the 15th YES Conference organized by the Victor Pinchuk Foundation in Kyiv on Saturday.

The problem is that it is impossible to implement it in the occupied territories, so we need to seek their de-occupation, he said. And it is very important that Ukraine also extend the law on the special status to prevent Russia from using these reproaches against Ukraine, Volker said.