Contents tagged with Minsk agreements

  • Ukrainian headquarters: The presence of our troops at the Svitlodarsk salient does not violate the Minsk agreements

    New positions that the Armed Forces of Ukraine took and held in the Svitlodarsk salient in the Donetsk region do not violate the Minsk agreements, according to a brief on January 11 by the spokesperson of the Ministry of Defense, Colonel Oleksandr Motuzyanyk.

    The Colonel reminded the press that fighting intensified recently on this stretch of a front line. "As you know, the situation there has been very tense in recent months. Very severe fighting continued there that resulted in units of the …

  • Finnish PM: Sanctions on Russia can be lifted only after Minsk agreements are implemented

    The Prime Minister of Finland, Juha Sipilä, stated that negotiations on lifting the EU’s sanctions against Russia will be held only after the implementation of the Minsk agreements, as was reported by the Yle broadcasting company.

    Sipilä was skeptical about the possible abolition of the EU sanctions against Russia and due to the lack of progress in the implementation of the Minsk agreements.

    Finland, according to the Prime Minister, fully supports the common EU line in this regard.

    "The EU …

  • Poroshenko’s advisor declared the need to update Minsk II

    The Director of the Ukrainian National Institute for Strategic Studies (NISI) and advisor to the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Horbulin, announced the need to update the Minsk Agreements. Horbulin’s article for ZN.UA says that the current version is not completely acceptable for Ukraine.

    "First of all, the agreements clearly (particularly in paragraphs 4, 9 and 11) lead to the violation of the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine. This is contrary not only to the national …

  • Kyiv raises question of abolishing 'quasi-state structures' in the Donbas

    During a Trilateral Contact Group meeting in Minsk, the aim of which was to find a peaceful settlement of the situation in Donbas, Ukraine raised the question about the possibility of abolition of the “quasi-state structures” of certain areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions (ORDLO). This was said by Daria Olifer, who is the press secretary of the Group’s Ukrainian representative, Leonid Kuchma.

    “It is impossible to hold elections on a territory that is not controlled by the Ukrainian …

  • NATO confirms that the Russian military is still present in the Donbas

    The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) confirms that Russian weapons and military are still present in the Donbas. This was stated by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, in answer to a Evropeyskaya Pravda journalist’s question before the meeting of the NATO member countries' defense ministers in Brussels.

    Stoltenberg noted that last week he discussed with the Ukrainian President the possibility of NATO exerting pressure on the Russian Federation.

    "Russia continues to support the …

  • US Ambassador to NATO: The EU should support sanctions against Russia until the Minsk agreements are implemented

    The European Union, following the United States, must maintain sanctions against Russia until the full implementation of the Minsk agreements. This was stated by U.S. Ambassador to NATO Douglas Lute before the start of the meeting of NATO member countries' defense ministers in Brussels.

    "We expect that the EU will join us in extending sanctions against Russia, until we see the full implementation of the Minsk agreements," Lute said. He stressed that the OSCE SMM provides convincing evidence of …

  • Poroshenko: Before elections in the Donbas, OSCE armed mission must gain control of border

    Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko stated that before the local elections in the Donbas, the OSCE armed mission should gain control over the border area with the Russian Federation in the eastern part of Ukraine that is currently not under Kyiv’s control.

    “I noted that a number of weapons and military equipment which Russia continues to supply through the uncontrolled area of the Russian-Ukrainian border reached the limit today when the number of tanks, artillery systems, armored personnel …

  • French President about the Donbas: First elections, then border control

    French President François Hollande warned about the possibility of the conflict in the Donbas turning “frozen” if the Minsk agreements are not implemented. He made this assertion when answering questions at the plenary meeting of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.

    Hollande stressed that he believes the implementation of the Minsk agreements is the only way to solve the conflict. He also noted that the priority is to hold local elections, rather than return control of the …

  • Ukrainian Defense Ministry: Armed Forces of Ukraine will not unilaterally withdraw troops from Donbas

    Ukraine will not unilaterally withdraw troops from the demarcation line in accordance with the framework agreement. This was said on the 112 Ukraine TV channel by the Deputy Head of the Department of Information Technology of the Ministry of Defense, Serhiy Halushko.

    "It is not just unilateral actions on our part. There is a control mechanism, and our intelligence sees what the enemy is doing. If we see that their party does not do something, or is trying to deceive us, then our units will not …

  • Ukrainian MoD: Withdrawal of troops from Stanytsia Luhanska delayed indefinitely due to separatist attacks

    The Ukrainian Defense Ministry confirmed that the withdrawal of forces and weapons in Stanytsia Luhanska scheduled for today has been postponed indefinitely. The statement was made by Andriy Lysenko, a spokesperson from the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, during a briefing.

    The withdrawal of troops and weapons was broken due to the shelling from separatists, which is a violation of the framework agreement.

    “Taking into account the systematic violations of the ceasefire and inability of the …