President Poroshenko has issued a statement on his official website dismissing the weekend votes as a "pseudo-elections" organized by "bandits, terrorists, and invaders" who "crowned themselves king."
He cites "several important, and not very pleasant, events" and goes on to pledge "never [to] stop our progress toward Europe" and notes that results are nearly finalized from the national elections on October 26 (won by pro-European parties).
He calls the October elections "also important in that they took place in the liberated part of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions," and adds that "as President of Ukraine, I am ready for dialogue with those [elected representatives whom] they have chosen."
Then he goes on at length to dismiss the voting organized by pro-Russian separatists in Donetsk and Luhansk on November 2.
"...[T]he vote yesterday -- pseudo-elections in the part of the Donbas that is, unfortunately, still controlled by militants -- was the exact opposite." He goes on to call the votes "farce under the muzzles of tanks and machines" that has "nothing to do with" choice or will.
"The bandits, terrorists, and invaders can crown themselves as deputy prime ministers and ministers. Even as kings and emperors. But...they remain occupiers, thieves, and militants."
He goes on to call the vote a "gross violation" of the Minsk Protocol of September 5, and says Ukraine will "reexamine" its commitments under that deal.
He also says he has called a meeting for Tuesday of top advisers to discuss "adjustments" to his strategy for dealing with eastern Ukraine and says he will propose to the National Security Council "the abolition" of the law extending special status to "certain areas of Donetsk and Luhansk."
He notes that "decentralization remains in our arsenal as a key element of a political settlement in the Donbas" and suggests an international fund for rebuilding infrastructure in the area to help bring "peace and security."
He concludes: "Despite provocations, a diplomatic path to settlement remains a priority for the Ukrainian leadership. At the same time, we will continue to strengthen our intense defenses in case events develop counter to our desires. This issue will also be considered tomorrow by the [National Security and Defense Council]."
Here's the Ukrainian-language version of Poroshenko's statement.
This is citing a 24TV.ua report that says Poroshenko wants to cancel the law on the "special status" of Donetsk and Luhansk regions, passed pursuant to the Minsk protocol that Kyiv has accused the separatists (and effectively Russia) of reneging on by holding the weekend votes.
Reuters flash:
UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT POROSHENKO CALLS MEETING OF SECURITY CHIEFS FOR TUESDAY TO DISCUSS CHANGING ACTION PLAN FOR HANDLING SEPARATIST REBELLION FOLLOWING REBEL VOTE - STATEMENT
Via AFP:
Poroshenko says Kyiv will react as separatists violated peace deal.
Paul Goble advocates extending NATO membership to Ukraine in a piece for The Interpreter titled "Putin’s Strategy in Ukraine -- Sow Panic, Provoke, Invade and Then Repeat the Process."
[T]hree steps are necessary immediately. First, Ukraine and the West must understand what Putin is doing and call it by its rightful names: invasion, Anschluss, provocation, intimidation, and panic-sowing. And both must understand that this is part of a single policy rather than a set of alternatives as some in both Kyiv and the West appear to want to believe.
Second, the West must declare formally a non-recognition policy relative to Crimea and the southeastern portions of Ukraine where Moscow forces are currently operating....
And third, it is long past time to be talking about whether NATO countries should be supplying Ukraine with weapons. They should have been sent at the time of the first Putin moves against Ukraine, and the flow of such weapons and related assistance should have been stepped up with each new Putin action.
In short, the time has come for the West to extend NATO membership to Ukraine, a country that has made the choice to be part of the West and that the West now acknowledges that reality. That alone will not solve the current crisis, but it will disrupt Putin’s strategy and cause both him and his supporters to realize that his approach won’t be tolerated any longer.
If that message isn’t delivered now, Putin will repeat his strategy not only in Ukraine but elsewhere as well.
Via our correspondent in Brussels, Rikard Jozwiak, here's EU Neighborhood and Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn speaking about yesterday's votes:
"From our point [of view] it is always about the integrity of the Ukrainian state, and in that respect, once again, we cannot accept this election; and it's always up to the political authorities to decide about how democratic decisions come together and here the Ukrainian government was crystal clear: They don't accept this election and therefore also not the outcome."
For Politico on the "Cossack People's Republic of Stakhanov":
A few doors down from the kitchen is the smoke-filled nerve center of Commander Pavel Dremov’s military operation. Dremov is a 37-year old former bricklayer who has emerged as the savior of Stakhanov, a hitherto-forgotten mining town in the northwest corner of the self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic. What is interesting is that the commander has styled himself in complete opposition to his fellow separatists in Luhansk and what he calls its “shady businessmen,” who deal “money, power, and ceasefires with the Kiev ‘junta.’” Dremov has offered Stakhanov citizens an alternative vision—a new, socialist, neo-Soviet “Cossack” republic that works for the people, especially the poor and elderly. And, as goes without saying, one that ignores any talk of a ceasefire deal.