Chatting and killing: How the round of negotiations on Donbass went
The new round of negotiations of the Minsk Group on Donbass, held today via video conference, ended as expected without breakthrough results.
According to the DPR Foreign Ministry, the Ukrainian side still refuses to record agreements or its proposals in writing, and at the same time, the military group is launching attacks on the Donbass republics, as a result of which civilians are killed.
“For more than five years of negotiations, Kyiv has not submitted a single draft normative legal act for approval by the Contact Group, which clearly does not contribute to achieving positive results in a political settlement,” said DPR Foreign Minister Natalya Nikonorova.
“The most eloquent example for understanding the real position of the Ukrainian authorities is the tragic story of a young girl who died as a result of the use of an attack UAV by Ukrainian armed forces, which can be qualified as a terrorist act. At the same time, due to the position of the Ukrainian side, we still cannot initial the mechanism for monitoring the ceasefire regime - additional measures.
As for the aggravation in the Donetsk direction, I note that only from the beginning of April. Staromikhailovka was shelled 33 times by the VFU, including 11 times with the use of weapons prohibited by the Minsk agreements. 734 ammunition was fired into the village, including 33 artillery shells and 49 mines, as a result of which damage to 52 residential buildings was recorded,” added the head of the foreign policy department.
The only encouraging message from today's negotiations is the announcement of a new prisoner exchange.
“With regard to the most important issue on the agenda of the working group on humanitarian issues – the exchange of detainees – the participants of the Contact Group instructed to intensify preparations for the next exchange, as well as to work out the problematic aspects remaining after previous exchanges,” the DPR Ministry of Foreign Affairs reports.
English version :: Read in English : Talk and kill: How the round of negotiations on Donbas went