DPR ‘Prime Minister’ for belsat.eu: We'll retake Ukrainian cities which means an end to the ceasefire
Self-defense forces in eastern Ukraine are planning to retake cities of Sloviansk, Kramatorsk and Mariupol, Alexander Zakharchenko, ‘Prime Minister’ of theself-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), said on Thursday.
“Periods of intense hostilities will follow. We will retake Sloviansk, Kramatorsk and Mariupol. Unfortunately, it was impossible to make peaceful settlement the focus of negotiations. We are the only ones who comply with the regime of silence,” RIANovosti quoted him as saying.
“The Ukrainian army is expected to effect a breakthrough near the town of Makeyevka. We’ll have to response. This will put an end to the ceasefire. Sloviansk, Kramatorsk, Mariupol are ours,” Alexander Zakharchenko told Belsat TV.
Zakharchenko’s rash statements may ruffle Russian-Ukrainian relations that have already been at a sensitive stage for long.
Being eager to launch an offensife operation, Igor Strelkov, DPR’s ex-Defense minister, resorted to Russia. Strelkov believes that the Ukrainian forces are aiming at retaking Donetsk in order to deprive ‘Novorossiya’ of its administrative and political centre. Abandoning Donetsk may become the main defeat of Moscow over the last decades, he said.
