Poroshenko Says He’s Ready to Call Unified Ukraine Vote

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, center, visits National Guards Unit training center in Kiev, Ukraine on April 4, 2015.

Photograph: Ukrainian Presidency Press Office /Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
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Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said he’s ready to call a referendum on the country’s unified status after constitutional changes to devolve power under a peace agreement to end the conflict with pro-Russian rebels.

The changes, part of the cease-fire accord negotiated in February, have “nothing to do with federalization” and the country will remain a unitary state with Ukrainian as its sole official language, Poroshenko said at the first meeting of a constitutional commission in Kiev on Monday.