KIEV, Oct. 6 (Xinhua) -- A brawl broke out in the Ukrainian parliament on Friday during consideration of bills regarding the return of the eastern region of Donbas under Kiev's sovereignty through peaceful means.
The bills, submitted by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on Wednesday, have drawn criticism from some oppositional lawmakers, who claimed that the legislation offering concessions to pro-independence insurgents in eastern Ukraine "run counter to national interests of the country."
During the scuffles between lawmakers, a smoke grenade was thrown inside the parliamentary hall not far from the speaker's rostrum, but no one got hurt.
Despite the brawl, the parliament has passed one of the bills, which allows the Ukrainian authorities to grant a limited self-rule to Donbas for 12 months if certain conditions put forward by Kiev are met.
Another draft law, which stipulates that the conflict-hit region would be re-integrated into Ukraine on the basis of the Minsk peace agreements, was approved in the first reading.
After the voting, Parliament Speaker Andriy Parubiy has closed the meeting of the assembly in an urgent manner, saying it was "technically difficult" to work in the parliamentary hall.
The legislation on the peaceful return of Donbas is the latest attempt by the Ukrainian authorities to resolve the conflict between government troops and insurgents in eastern Ukraine that has claimed more than 10,000 lives since April 2014.
