JUST IN FROM RFE/RL's NEWS DESK:
Ukraine's parliament passes bill on "reintegration" of eastern regions held by Russia-backed separatists; several controversial proposed amendments have been rejected.
Ukraine's Parliament Passes Contentious Donbas 'Reintegration' Bill
By RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service
KYIV -- Ukraine's parliament has passed a bill governing state policy on areas in the east that are held by Russia-backed separatists.
The bill, which has been the subject of tension and demonstrations in a country whose stability has been undermined by nearly four years of war, was adopted by a vote of 280-226 in the Verkhovna Rada on January 18.
It goes to President Petro Poroshenko, whose party supported the legislation.
The bill labels Russia an "aggressor" and the separatist-held parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk provinces -- part of what is known as the Donbas -- as "temporarily occupied territories."
That is the same designation given previously to Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula that Russia seized in 2014.
The bill makes no reference to the European-backed peace deal known as the Minsk accords, leaving questions about whether it could further complicate efforts to implement the February 2015 agreement aimed at ending the war in eastern Ukraine.
Language regarding the Minsk accords was removed after much debate ahead of the first reading of the bill.
More than 10,300 people have been killed in eastern Ukraine since April 2014 in the conflict, which erupted as Russia fomented separatism after Moscow-friendly President Viktor Yanukovych was pushed from power by huge pro-European protests in Kyiv.