Germany: Donbass autonomy law must have support of DPR and LPR - Merkel

Changes to the Ukrainian constitution concerning greater autonomy for the eastern Donbass region must be approved by the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk people's republics (DPR/LPR), German Chancellor Angela Merkel said at a press conference in Berlin on Monday. Speaking about the ongoing changes to the Ukrainian constitution, Merkel said "unfortunately it is going slower than you'd think, but we feel a great deal of responsibility towards this process." Ukrainian lawmakers voted in favour of constitutional changes that would grant greater autonomy to the Donbass region, in the Verkhovna Rada in Kiev earlier on Monday. The draft bill was passed following heated exchanges inside the country's parliament. Greater autonomy for Donbass was a key component of the Minsk agreements and granting special status to the region has been a central issue for the Trilateral Contact Group on Ukraine. Leaders of the self-proclaimed DPR and LPR see special status for the region as key to de-escalating tensions in the east of the country.