KYIV. Feb 12 (Interfax) - The Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada should lift the economic, energy, and transport blockade on the parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions not currently controlled by Kyiv, presidential candidate Oleksandr Vilkul, the deputy leader of the Opposition Bloc parliamentary faction, said on Tuesday.
"I've submitted a draft resolution and a bill on ending the economic, transport, energy, and social blockade of Donbas to the Verkhovna Rada," Vilkul said during a discussion between experts at the Interfax office in Kyiv on Tuesday.
The first steps toward restoring ties with the part of Donbas not controlled by Kyiv could be the payment of pensions and social allowances to the people living there and the resumption of railroad services, Vilkul said. "Trains should terminate not at Kostyantynivka, but at Donetsk. Yes, there should be checkpoints and everything necessary, but this would be transport communication," he said.
The railroad infrastructure in Donbas has remained intact even despite combat activities, he said.
Vilkul also called for restoring economic ties with the uncontrolled territories, normalizing cargo transportation, and lifting the "energy blockade."
"This could be the first significant step toward peace and reintegration. This is the path all of us have to take," he said.
Asked whether he believes the leaders of the self-proclaimed republics would facilitate the restoration of ties, Vilkul said "The millions of Ukrainians currently in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, even in territories we are not controlling, shouldn't be innocent victims. And I think that if they oppose this, the people themselves would dethrone them. The people there want peace above all," Vilkul said.