The U.S. non-governmental organization Freedom House has called on the Ukrainian authorities to maintain a balance between the interests of national security and protection of human rights following an approval by the Verkhovna Rada of President Petro Poroshenko's decree declaring martial law.

"The Ukrainian government must carefully balance national security and human rights considerations as it responds to security threats in the Sea of Azov and implements provisions of the declaration of martial law," Freedom House's Director for Europe and Eurasia Programs Marc Behrendt said in a statement published on the organization's website on November 27.

He said, "The declaration removes protections on a number of fundamental freedoms, particularly the freedoms of assembly, movement, and expression."

"We urge the Ukrainian government to limit implementation of any restrictions to those which are focused on the specific security threat, rather than broadly applied. Any restrictions to fundamental freedoms must be transparently justified and consistent with a democratic society," Behrendt said.

He said the fundamental rights and freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution must be maximally protected in Ukraine, particularly ahead of its 2019 electoral season.

As reported earlier, on November 26, the Verkhovna Rada approved the imposition of martial law in several regions of Ukraine for 30 days, following a decree by President Petro Poroshenko. However, it is still not clear from which date and time martial law is to be declared because the first version of the presidential decree said it was to be declared from 2 p.m. on November 26, for a period of 60 days. However, in a televised address to the nation later in the day, President Poroshenko said he decided to impose martial law at 9 a.m. on November 28, 2018. The final version of the decree that was approved by the Ukrainian parliament has not been published yet.