Zelensky vows to get back occupied areas of Ukraine. Separatists set sights on Russia
On July 5, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky congratulated the cities of Kramatorsk and Slovyansk on the sixth anniversary of liberation from illegal armed groups.
“We bow to everyone who returned Slovyansk and Kramatorsk to Ukraine,” he said during the festivities on the Day of the Naval Forces of Ukraine in Odesa.
On the occasion of the liberation of the cities, a video broadcast was provided from Kramatorsk where Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal was present. According to him, the teleconference demonstrated the unity of the country – ‘from Odesa to Kramatorsk, every day – from Uzhhorod to Donetsk and Luhansk’.
Notably, the head of state promised to get back all the occupied areas of Ukraine.
“And all this gives me a powerful charge of strength and faith that we will definitely succeed! We will return all our people. We will return all our territories. We will restore faith in truth and justice. We will return a peaceful, united and indivisible, powerful and invincible Ukraine,” the presidential press service quotes Volodymyr Zelensky.
DPR dissent from Moscow’s opinion
Meanwhile, Alexander Borodai, the first prime minister of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) during the congress of the Russian party Motherland in St. Petersburg announced the imminent entry of Donbas into Russia. According to him, DPR and LPR (‘Luhansk People’s Republic’) are de facto part of the Russian Federation. He expressed confidence that the status of two ‘republics’ will be regularised in the near future.
However, Vladimir Dzhabarov, Deputy Chairman of the International Affairs Committee of the Federation Council, said in an interview with Govorit Moskva that the Kremlin did not consider DPR and LPR Russian regions.
“Russia has never seen Donbas, Luhansk, Donetsk as the regions it needs. We considered these regions as territories inhabited by Russian-speaking people. [There are many] ethnic Russians and many Russians in spirit,” the top official stressed.
In his opinion, Donetsk and Luhansk could become the areas contributing to ‘building a bridge between Russia and Ukraine’ in order to normalise the two countries’ relations.
