Ukrainian prime minister offers more power to local regions

KIEV, Ukraine, April 11 (UPI) -- Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk announced Friday the central government's intention to empower the regions with the objective of balanced governmental powers, both at the central level and regionally.

During a meeting with representatives from eastern Ukraine's Donetsk region on Friday, Yatsenyuk discussed the need for constitutional reform; "our common task," he told them, "is to balance the powers of the center and the regions."

The prime minister's announcement followed Ukrainian acting President and Verkhovna Rada Chairman Oleksandr Turchynov's offer on Thursday to consider expanding the rights of local government councils.

Kiev is attempting to address the concerns of its citizens after pro-Russian demonstrators took up arms in eastern Ukraine last weekend, seizing government buildings and indicating their desire to hold a referendum similar to the one held in Crimea in March that led to the -- widely considered illegal -- annexation of the Crimean Peninsula by the Russian Federation.

[Interfax Ukraine News Agency]