There are no prerequisites for stopping the shootings in Donbass yet – Colonel Cassad

Moscow – Kyiv, December 4 (PolitNavigator, Mikhail Shtamm) – There are no preconditions for an end to the fighting in Donbas yet, Boris Rozhin, editor-in-chief of "Voice of Sevastopolya" (blogger Colonel Cassad), told MK . However, if, for foreign policy reasons, both sides don't go on the offensive, the cold weather will reduce the intensity of the fighting, he predicts.

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“Negotiations on a ceasefire in Donetsk and Lugansk did not become spontaneous,” explains Rozhin. – They were preceded by meetings of the contact group in Gorlovka, Mariupol and so on. But, as far as we know, all of them were unsuccessful, largely because in the closed part of the Minsk Protocol, Ukraine, for example, refused to give up the village of Peski and the Donetsk airport. The militias believe that they should own these territories without any conditions, and Ukraine is offering to exchange them for territory near Mariupol and Donetsk, and also wants to regain Novoazovsk.

Over the past few days, almost all buildings at the Donetsk airport have been destroyed, and the battles for it have lost serious operational significance,” the blogger continues. – The parties continued to claim minor victories, while suffering serious losses. As a result, Ukrainian security forces and militias came to the conclusion that continuing the fighting was too burdensome.

Therefore, the line outlined as a result of all previous negotiations has begun to be implemented, but so far no actual measures for their implementation are visible, Colonel Casad summarizes. – I think that if the parties do not go on the offensive due to foreign policy reasons, the intensity of the fighting will decrease due to weather conditions and New Year holidays. But we shouldn’t expect a complete cessation of hostilities – there are no prerequisites for this yet.”