Cards on the table: Separatist leader pledges to fight up to Donetsk region border
The self-proclaimed Donetsk people’s republic will no longer make attempts to speak with Kyiv on the subject of a ceasefire, its leader Alexander Zakharchenko said.
“There will no longer be any attempts to speak about a ceasefire from our side. We will now see how Kiev reacts. Kiev doesn’t currently understand that we can advance in three directions simultaneously,” Zakharchenko told RiaNovosti.
“We will be advancing to the region border [with other Ukraine’s regions] but if I see any thread from any other side we will eliminate it,” he said.
Zakharchenko added that while the DPR would not go for a reconciliation with Kyiv, the promised prisoner swaps between the parties would still be carried out, adding that DPR captives should be ‘pulled out’.
A peace plan was agreed in Minsk last September between Ukraine, Russia and pro-Russian separatist leaders to end the conflict. It provided for a ceasefire and the withdrawal of foreign fighters and military equipment from Ukraine. But the ceasefire has been very shaky from the start and hundreds of people have died since September in clashes Kyiv says have involved regular Russian troops.
