Ukrainian official: Russia will withdraw from Donbas next year
Russia will leave the territories of Donetsk and Luhansk regions next year as plans for this have already been made, as explained by the Deputy Minister on the issues of Temporarily Occupied Territories and Internally Displaced Persons of Ukraine, Yuri Grymchak in an interview with Apostrophe.
"First, we have the so-called Protocol on the Minsk Agreements implementation dated February 12, 2015, where in paragraph 10 it is stated that according to the Minsk Agreements the following should happen: All foreign troops and mercenaries must be withdrawn, and militants must be disarmed. This protocol was signed by the Russian Federation in 2015, and these agreements were entered into the UN Security Council decision, which means they are an international document. This was the first sign," the Deputy Minister said.
The second sign, according to Grymchak, is that to date, there is a situation where Ukraine’s allies openly acknowledge that the Russian Federation is an aggressor country that actually has occupied part of the territory of Ukraine in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
"They understand that the Kremlin has created "gaskets "or" proxy "there, these fake "governments". Therefore, today the pressure on Russia has increased in many times. And the results within Russia - the economic, financial and political situation – leave the Kremlin no other choice but to leave the territory of Donetsk and Luhansk regions, "Grymchak said.
"And, finally, there is information from various sources that the so-called leaders of these fake formations [the so-called DPR (Donetsk People’s Republic) and LPR (Luhansk People’s Republic] began looking for and are trying to buy housing in the Russian Federation and in unrecognized republics like Abkhazia, etc. There was also information that the Russians began to withdraw particularly valuable military equipment. Not tanks with artillery, because it is not of great value...," added the Deputy Minister.
Earlier, Yuri Grymchak reported that Russia is gradually withdrawing its weapons from the Donbas, starting with especially valuable pieces.