LPR leader invites Zelensky for negotiations
Leonid Pasechnik, head of the Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR), has invited Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to talks in Luhansk, the separatist-controlled media reported.
“If he [Zelensky] decides to come to us, we will meet him in accordance with international protocol. He won’t have to fear for his life at all, let him come to us, and let us talk about how to establish peace in the Donbas as quickly as possible, in order to put an end to all this madness,” Pasechnik said.
The LPR leader observed that the primary task for both sides is currently “to stop firing, withdraw the heavy weaponry, and sit around the negotiating table”.
“It’s unacceptable for peaceful, sensible and intelligent people to die, when it’s unclear why and unclear what for,” the LPR leader said.
“I think that it must be stopped, and we can only achieve this through direct negotiations. And so please, let him come, and of course we will guarantee his safety,” he remarked.
Pasechnik stressed that direct negotiations would be the first step towards restoring peace in the Donbas.
The representatives of the self-proclaimed Luhansk and Donetsk People’s Republics are not party to the Minsk negotiations.
On the morning of August 6, pro-Russian militants fired a rocket-powered grenade at troops from Ukraine’s 36th marine brigade who were working on a defensive position near the village of Pavlopil. Four soldiers were killed.
President Zelensky said that the incident was the end of the truce announced on July 21.