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Ukraine’s president calls for calm at nationalists’ march

October 13, 2019 GMT

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A demonstrator wearing a mask of Russian President Vladimir Putin with a sign that reads: "war criminal” takes part in a protest against the Ukrainian president's plan to hold a local election in the country's rebel-held east, a move seen by some as a major concession to Russia in front of the Russian Embassy in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, Oct. 7, 2019. (AP Photo/Serhii Nuzhnenko)

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KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine’s president is urging participants in a nationalist march Monday to avoid violence, amid growing anger at his peace plan for the separatist conflict in eastern Ukraine.

Kyiv is deploying thousands of police to watch over the march, expected to include nationalist and far-right groups protesting President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s policies.

In a Facebook appeal Sunday, Zelenskiy told demonstrators: “Don’t give in to provocations of those who want to create a controversial image for Russian television,” saying Ukraine’s critics “dream of seeing fighting and chaos in our ranks.”

Monday’s march comes on a Ukrainian holiday when nationalist groups traditionally gather.

The protesters reject a tentative agreement for local elections in eastern Ukraine, fearing that it cedes too much to Russia.

The five-year conflict with Moscow-backed separatists has killed 13,000 people.