The struggle to define Ukraine amid war and separation goes on. The guidelines laid out by February's Minsk protocol, agreed to by the leaders of Russia, Germany, France, and Ukraine, require Kiev to carry out constitutional reforms by the end of 2015. The government has established a commission for this purpose, and the goal of the commission is to preserve Ukraine's territorial integrity. Related issues, such as eventual NATO membership, are also stirring the Ukrainian body politic.
NATO
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said that his country will join NATO. In his opinion, this may happen in about six or seven years - in accordance with the timeframe for Kiev's current reforms. "We are working to thoroughly reform the country from an economic, social and administrative point of view. It is a long job," Poroshenko told official Russian news agency RIA Novosti. According to Poroshenko, when Ukraine is ready, authorities will hold a referendum to ask Ukrainians whether their country should join the alliance.
Eastern Ukraine
Turning to the nominally independent, pro-Russian Donbas region in the east of the country, the presumption is that the new draft constitution will not confer special status of the Donbas territories, but it will codify a unique form of local government in the de-facto independent region. While the proposed language is vague, Poroshenko said that "the constitution allows for the possibility of specific conduct of local authorities in certain jurisdictions of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions - (conduct) which is determined by a separate law." The law cited here would allow Kiev to determine a new status for the Donbas region, which, at least officially, seeks a strong pro-Russian course of development and political orientation. According to this new document, "special procedural acts of local government rule are to be held in districts, towns, villages and settlements, which are located between the state border of Ukraine with Russia, the coastline of the Azov Sea and the line that corresponds to the Minsk memorandum of Sept. 19, 2014." Russian daily Komsomolskaya Pravda notes that the list of territories where a special status law would be applied has not been agreed upon with the pro-Russian Luhansk and Donetsk People's Republics.
Crimea
Turning to Crimea, which is listed on some recently issued maps as Russian territory, Poroshenko said that no amendments to the new Constitution would change the status of Crimean Peninsula - Kiev still considers it Ukrainian territory. "Crimea's autonomy is clearly displayed in the current Constitution, where it has fairly broad powers, and the powers of the Crimea and Sevastopol are enshrined in the draft amendments to the Basic Law (of the country)."
The biggest challenge to Ukraine's constitutional commission will be to determine how two de-facto independent regions, Donetsk and Luhansk, can remain part of the country they have fought against for more than a year, and whether Crimea can be considered part of Ukraine given its forceful annexation by Russia.
