Pope appeals for peace as tensions rise in Ukraine

(Vatican Radio) The Pope's appeal for peace in Ukraine comes while the president of the former Soviet republic has urged all parties to support plans for constitutional change aimed at ending a separatist conflict in the east that has killed thousands and defeating what he calls the "Russian aggressor.” Yet President Petro Poroshenko also says that military pressure on Ukraine from Russia and the separatists that Moscow supports will likely continue for generations.

Listen to Stefan Bos’ report:

Pope Francis' prayer for peace in Ukraine on Sunday came amid mounting concerns over escalating tensions in the east. Record shelling in eastern Ukraine has killed combatants and civilians on both sides in recent days.

The issue will top the agenda when Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko meets German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande in Berlin Monday.

Poroshenko is also expected to give an account of what he has done to honour the Minsk peace agreement and a shaky ceasefire. Ongoing clashes threaten to overshadow Monday's Independence Day marking Ukraine's breakaway from the Soviet Union in 1991.

URGING ALLIES

Poroshenko used a flag-raising ceremony in Kyiv on the eve of Independence Day to urge allies to vote in favour of amendments to the constitution allowing special status to separatist-minded parts of eastern Ukraine. But the proposed changes, which will go to a first vote in parliament on August 31, have split the pro-Western coalition.

Several parties are under pressure from paramilitary groups opposed to giving any ground to Russian-backed separatists who have seized territories in the east. Yet Poroshenko said decentralization as proposed during peace talks in Minsk was aimed at ending the conflict and to stand up against Russian aggression.

However in earlier remarks even Poroshenko made one of his gloomiest predictions on prospects for peace in his country.

Speaking at a military rally in Kharkiv region where he handed over new weapons and equipment to the army, Poroshenko said pressure on Ukraine from Russia and Russian-backed separatists would likely last decades and that future generations would have to undergo military training.

MINSK AGREEMENTS

He said the “Minsk agreements no matter how much they have been criticised gave us the chance and have given us the time to strengthen Ukraine's defence capabilities.” The president also stressed that the time of “ill-considered pacifism and short-sighted neglect of the defence issues have now receded into the past."

Moscow has denied supporting the separatists with weapons and troops. And speaking last week in Crimea, Russian President Vladimir Putin blamed Kyiv for fuelling the tensions. He argued that not the anti-Kyiv forces but government troops are escalating the conflict. Putin claimed that while “the militias offered to withdraw all combat vehicles of less than 100 millimeter calibre from the frontline” Ukraine “is concentrating its units there, including combat vehicles. “

The United Nations estimates the violence has killed more than 6,800 people since April 2014 and has driven at least 1.4 million from their homes. Pro-Russian separatists took up arms in the east after Russia annexed Crimea in March 2014 in response to the overthrow of a pro-Moscow president in Kyiv by street protests.