DONETSK, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine’s prime minister went on a charm offensive Friday as he visited the country’s southeast, pledging to give regions more powers and to defend the rights of Russian speakers.

Arseniy Yatsenyuk met with regional officials who once opposed his new government in Kiev, but not with protesters occupying government buildings in the cities of Donetsk or Luhansk. Still, he left it unclear how his ideas differed from the demands of the protesters or from Russia’s advocacy of federalization for Ukraine.