Rada Security Committee backs bill on restoring sovereignty over Donbas but calls for amendments .

The Verkhovna Rada Committee on National Security and Defense supported the presidential bill on the specifics of state policy to ensure state sovereignty of Ukraine over temporarily occupied territories in Donetsk and Luhansk regions (No. 7163), at the same time instructing that the working group draft a number of amendments, according to an UNIAN correspondent. The corresponding decision was announced by Committee Chair Serhiy Pashinsky. Before the vote, MP Andriy Levus proposed removing from the bill’s article 7 the reference to Minsk agreements and replacing them with a note on the resolution of the UN Security Council, which supported the Minsk accords. Pashinsky put the draft law to vote with the instruction to the committee secretariat to create ahead of the second reading a working group to be headed by MP Levus, aimed at finalizing the document and amending Article 7. Most Committee members supported the decision with three abstained, and another one against.