Pro-Russians announce new state in east Ukraine

‘Pro-Russian forces in eastern Ukrainian territories have announced the creation of a new state, further complicating efforts to put an end to a conflict that has killed more than 10,000 people.
Leader of the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic Alexander Zakharchenko said Tuesday that the region, along with a similar republic in neighboring Luhansk province and representatives of other Ukrainian regions would form a state called Malorossiya.
“We, representatives of the regions of the former Ukraine, excluding Crimea, proclaim the creation of a new state which is a successor to Ukraine,” Zakharchenko told Russia’s Tass news agency, adding, “We believe that the Ukrainian state as it was cannot be restored.”
He added that people in Malorossiya would later have the chance to vote on a new constitution. Malorossiya was the term used by the Russian Empire to identify most of the areas which are currently part of Ukraine.’
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