The Verkhovna Rada has passed the presidential bill No 7163 "On the peculiarities of state policy to ensure the state sovereignty of Ukraine over temporarily occupied territories of the Donetsk and the Luhansk oblasts" in its first reading, - correspondent of OstroV reports.
233 people's deputies casted an affirmative vote for the relevant decision.
As a result of consultations with leaders of the parliamentary factions, the bill was passed into the hall without mentioning the Minsk agreements.
The Rada's relevant committee proposed to replace the words "the Minsk Protocol as of September 5, 2014", "the Minsk Memorandum as of September 19, 2014" and "Set of Measures as of February 19, 2015" by the words "the UN Security Council Resolutions, adopted in connection with Russian armed aggression against Ukraine in the Donetsk and the Luhansk oblasts" for the second reading.
The bill proposes to recognize Russia as the aggressor, and uncontrolled territories of the Donetsk and the Luhansk oblasts as temporarily occupied.
It is also proposed to establish Joint Operational Headquarters of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, which will directly manage forces and assets of the Armed Forces and other military entities, the MIA and the National Police, involved in the process of "deterrence against military aggression" in the Donbass.
Earlier, relevant committee of the parliament supported this bill and recommended the parliament to pass it in the first reading.
As previously reported, yesterday, during consideration of the bill No 7163 "On the peculiarities of state policy to ensure the state sovereignty of Ukraine over temporarily occupied territories of the Donetsk and the Luhansk oblasts", people's deputies from Samopomich blocked the parliament presidium, protesting against the adoption of this document.