believe that autonomy could satisfy separatist fighters and remove any arguments Russia may have for arming and funding their campaign — support Moscow firmly denies ever giving.
But the suggested changes have been denounced as insufficient by the rebels and are unlikely to make an immediate impact on the ground.
Four civilians and three Ukrainian soldiers have been reported killed since Thursday in shelling attacks on disputed towns that straddle a frontline splitting the self-declared “people´s republics” of Lugansk and Donetsk from the rest of Ukraine.
The entire separatist region — about the size of Wales — accounted for just 2.6 percent of Ukraine´s population but 15 percent of its industrial production before the war broke out with Kiev´s new pro-Western government in April 2014.
Poroshenko´s critics question whether Ukraine will ever be able to rebuild its imploding economy with the east´s powerful coal mines and steel mills still under the insurgents´ control.
But Kiev´s Western governments are pushing for a resolution that could help start mending their relations with Russia and building stability across European Union´s unsettled eastern edge.
The Minsk accord also demands the “withdrawal of all foreign armed formations” and Kiev´s reestablishment of full control of Ukraine´s border with Russia by the end of the year.
Poroshenko depends on foreign support in his standoff with Russia and has been defending the Minsk agreements against its fiercest domestic critics.
He hopes to strike a new demilitarisation agreement with the insurgents on Monday that requires both sides to pull back smaller-scale weapons from what should become a 30-kilometre-wide buffer zone.
US State Department spokesman Mark Toner said “we strongly support President Poroshenko´s call to sign an agreement on the withdrawal of heavy weapons under 100 millimetres in calibre.” “We urge all sides to implement such an agreement immediately,” he told reporters on Thursday.