Ukraine's national security council declares state of emergency

The National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine (NSDC) has decided to declare a state of emergency across the country, except for the regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, NSDC Secretary Oleksiy Danilov said on Wednesday."The issue of declaring a state of emergency was discussed ... The decision was made. According to our legislation, the Verkhovna Rada must approve this decision within 48 minutes ... A state of emergency will be introduced throughout Ukraine, except for the Donetsk and Luhansk regions," Danilov told reporters.

Measures will be tightened or softened depending on the situation in different parts of the country, he said, noting that the emergency is planned to be declared for 30 days and can be extended up to 60 days. After declaring the emergency state, the authorities do not plan to confiscate registered weapons from the population, the NSDC chief added.

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