Poroshenko ready for compromise on Donbass, Nazarbayev claims

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has spoken of his readiness to compromise over Ukraine's eastern Donbass region, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev claimed Friday, The Moscow Times writes. 

The Donbass region has been at the center of ongoing violence between the Ukrainian military and pro-Russian separatists since 2014. 

Speaking at a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Sochi, Nazarbayev said that Poroshenko was willing to provide Donbass with a special, more independent status within the county, but that he was unable to act due to a lack of unity in the parliament, the RBC news outlet reported Tuesday. 

A proposed decentralization bill has sparked debate across Ukraine and would require controversial changes to the constitution. Under the law, several regions within Ukraine would be ruled independently with the involvement of a central government official.