The WSJ reports, "steelworkers from the mills of Ukraine's richest man are helping to bring order to the streets of Mariupol in eastern Ukraine, which one week ago saw deadly clashes between armed separatists and government forces.
The initiative followed a rare public intervention by the owner of their mills, Rinat Akhmetov, who in a video address called for the country's volatile eastern regions to remain part of Ukraine.
Mr. Akhmetov is seen as the most powerful figure in the region, and his statement was quickly followed by the signing of an agreement by the factories, trade unions, local authorities and activists, including a representative of the Donetsk People's Republic, the self-proclaimed separatist group that held a vote last week to secede from Ukraine.
Clad in gray uniforms and hard hats, the men have cleared barricades and are patrolling the streets alongside police in a move that local officials say has made Mariupol a rare island of calm in the violence-hit region, where armed pro-Russia militants control at least a dozen towns.
The "memorandum on order and safety," the first to be struck with a representative of the separatists, was signed Thursday, calling for an end to armed conflict and a return to peace and order in the city. It was signed by the chief executives of the steel mills, top city officials, and the leader of the Donetsk People's Republic in the city.
The streets of Mariupol, a coastal city of some 500,000 people, are now patrolled by around 100 units of six steelworkers and two police officers working in shifts. The workers, from the Azovsteel and Ilich mills owned by Mr. Akhmetov's Metinvest have also cleared away the barricade of tires and other objects.
The militant separatists, who battled for control of government buildings in the city with police, have largely melted away, local media reported.
The patrol strategy is also being employed in three smaller towns near where Mr. Akhmetov's company owns facilities, a spokesman for Mr. Akhmetov's company said.
Mr. Akhmetov is the main force behind the Party of Regions, which backed pro-Russia former President Viktor Yanukovych, who fled Kiev in February amid street protests and was ousted. Mr. Akhmetov had previously called for national unity in brief, written statements.
Thursday, he called in a televised address for reforms to hand local authorities more powers, overhauls in line with the plans of the Kiev government. "I strongly believe that Donbas can be happy only in a united Ukraine," he said.
He warned that a separatist Donetsk People's Republic, as an independent territory or part of Russia, would face economic hardship as it wouldn't be recognized".
The United Nations on Friday reported "an alarming deterioration in the human rights situation in the east of the country." The report cited "targeted killings, torture and beatings, abductions, intimidation and some cases of sexual harassment," adding that they were "mostly carried out by well-organized and well-armed antigovernment groups in the east."
