Street violence in Kiev spoils prospects for peace effort in Ukraine

PanARMENIAN.Net - A spasm of street violence has driven home how hard it is going to be for Ukrainian President President Petro Poroshenko to rally national support behind an internationally-brokered deal to bring peace to the east of his country, Reuters reports.

The violence outside parliament on Monday, September 31 was triggered by the government's "decentralization" plans - a key part of the deal agreed in Minsk, Belarus in February - that would give special status and greater autonomy to rebel-held areas of the east.

Three guardsmen died of wounds from grenade shrapnel and scores were injured in the clashes which the government blamed on ultra-nationalist radicals.

The main nationalist party, Svoboda, has denied government charges that its activists were responsible for the grenade attack and has blamed police for being unprepared.

Poroshenko himself says the deadly attack was probably the work of a freelance 'provocateur' out to stir up trouble.

That violent elements could lay hands on weapons is no surprise. After 18 months of military conflict in the east in which several thousands of people have been killed, Ukraine is awash with guns, ammunition and explosives.

But the violence, the worst in Kiev since the bloody turmoil of the 'euromaidan' protests in early 2014, has thrown a focus on where Ukraine goes from here in trying to re-establish its sovereignty in the east.

The outburst of street anger also took the edge off celebrations over a big financial deal, hailed by Kiev as a 'win-win', for restructuring billions of dollars of Ukrainian foreign debt.