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"KIEV, Ukraine \u2014 Pro-Russian separatists said \u201Cnyet\u201D to President Petro Poroshenko\u2019s suggestion on Wednesday that they disarm just days before a proposed cease-fire by Ukrainian troops begins.  \nSpeaking to graduates at a military university in Kiev, Poroshenko said the cease-fire is a critical start to his 14-step peace plan to curb what he called the \"state of war\u201D that has engulfed the eastern Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Luhansk for months.\nThe president\u2019s peace proposal includes an offer of amnesty to those separatists who have not committed serious crimes as well as safe passage to those willing to leave the country.\n\u201CThe cease-fire time will be pretty short,\u201D Poroshenko said. \u201CWe expect that disarmament of military groups and restoration of order will take place right after it.\u201D He added that authorities also expect that \u201Chostages and seized premises will be liberated.\u201D\nSee also: Ukraine's New President: Can a Candy King Lead a Post-Revolutionary Nation?\nAfter militants lay down their arms, the plan proposes the government take greater control of the Russian border while \u2014 simultaneously \u2014 granting the regional governments greater autonomy. \nBut even before the cease-fire occurs, Poroshenko said, Ukrainian forces will tighten their encirclement of separatist fighters in the city of Sloviansk and \u201Cliquidate\" the militants there - a necessity, he said, to ensure the closure of the eastern border.  \nPerhaps it was the threat to \"liquidate\" that prompted separatist leaders to swiftly reject the president\u2019s proposal.\n\u201CThis proposal by Poroshenko to lay down our arms is simply a tactical ploy,\u201D Myroslav Rudenko, a spokesman for the self-proclaimed Donetsk People\u2019s Republic, told Russia\u2019s Interfax news agency. \n\u201CIf people fall for it, there will be a new mopping-up operation. We will not put down our weapons,\u201D he said.\nAlexander Boroday, the self-proclaimed prime minister of the Donetsk People\u2019s Republic called the president\u2019s statement \u201Cabsolutely absurd,\u201D the Russian Itar-Tass news agency reported. \u201CWe clearly understand one thing: you cannot trust the statements of Kiev,\u201D he added.\n\nA red flag signed ' For our Soviet motherland!' waves above people shouting for independence during a rally in support of the self-proclaimed 'Donetsk People's Republic' in Donetsk, eastern Ukraine, on June 18, 2014Image: Alexander KHUDOTEPLY/AFP/Getty ImagesSince April 6, separatists in Donetsk and Luhansk regions have seized and occupied key government buildings, held illegal referendums on secession, declared independence from Ukraine and asked for military assistance from Russia.\nUkraine\u2019s \u201Canti-terrorist operation\u201D that began in mid-April has struggled to quash the separatists\u2019 militias, which have used surface-to-air missiles to shoot down several military aircrafts, including a transport plane carrying 40 paratroopers and nine crew members last Saturday. All were killed. \nThe Kiev government and Western officials say Russia has supplied manpower and weapons, including three tanks, to the militants. \nOn Wednesday, Ukraine\u2019s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it had proof that weapons from Russia were being used to fight the country\u2019s military forces. In a statement on its website that included a series of photographs, the ministry said several man-powered air defense systems (MANPADS), like the ones used to shoot down the transport plane last weekend, had been confiscated from militants in Donetsk region. Among the weapons\u2019 crates were documents showing they had been in Russian weapons facilities as recently as April.\nHave something to add to this story? Share it in the comments."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2014/06/18/separatists-in-eastern-ukraine-refuse-peace-plan/>