The Deputy Minister for the Temporarily Occupied Territories and Internally Displaced Persons of Ukraine, George Tuka, said that Ukraine will have to wait five years for a peaceful end to the occupation of the Donbas. As he stated in an interview on Channel 5, an OSCE police mission should be put in place in the Donbas to ensure the return of the occupied territories.

"We are not talking about a three to five year war, rather a de-occupation time frame. One of the ways the President says we should look at is the introduction of an international police mission. There is no other way, but it does not mean that once we begin this mission that it will be possible to hold elections and return to civilian life, with everything being settled, and have peace and quiet. It is not a utopia. And international experience will support that," Tuka said.

"We still have some time to demilitarize. We need a certain amount of time to return the official state institutions of Ukraine in the territory... by the way, this is my date (3-5 years for the de-occupation), though I talked about it a year ago, one year has passed and I believe that this year is lost," he added.

As for the question, whether there is a point of no return of the occupied territories in the eastern Ukraine, Tuka replied, "Of course, there is. Objective international research conducted over the past 30 years has determined that time period to be approximately five years. After that, only the military option remains," Tuka said.

As reported, Tuka recently hinted at the possible resumption of trade with the occupied territories of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions.

  Ukraine, Donbas

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