Ukrainian parliament offers special status for rebel east

KIEV: Ukraine's parliament approved on Tuesday a draft law to grant special status and limited self-rule to separatist-controlled parts of east Ukraine provided regional elections are held there under Ukrainian jurisdiction.

President Petro Poroshenko submitted the draft law to parliament, saying it was required under the terms of a four-power peace agreement worked out in Minsk, Belarus, last month.

Parliament also approved an appeal by Poroshenko to the UN Security Council to support the dispatch of a peacekeeping force to the east, where a conflict has killed more than 6,000 people since pro-Russian separatists rebelled against the pro-Western government last April.