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Developments in eastern Ukraine

DPR head says there is still hope for Minsk agreements despite Kiev’s actions

"You know, hope is the last to die," DPR head AlexanderZakharchenko said when asked about the prospects of the Minsk deals implementation

MOSCOW, May 28. /TASS/. Self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) head Alexander Zakharchenko said Thursday the Minsk agreements can still be implemented but added that Kiev "blatantly tramples on them".

"You know, hope is the last to die," Zakharchenko said when asked about the prospects of the Minsk deals implementation.

The Donetsk News Agency quoted him as saying that by shelling the city of Gorlovka on May 26, "the Ukrainian authorities showed one more time that they are not striving to implement the Minsk agreements."

Gorlovka, located in the Donetsk Region, on May 26 came under heavy shelling on the part of Ukrainian servicemen. Five civilians, including a 11-year-old child, were killed, another nine wounded.

"They prefer to blatantly trample on them," Zakharchenko said.

He said Ukrainian President Pyotr Poroshenko, who signed the February 12 Minsk agreements, deceived not only Donbass residents, but all Ukrainians and the entire world.

On September 19, 2014, the Trilateral Contact Group on settlement in east Ukraine comprising representatives of Russia, Ukraine and the OSCE adopted a memorandum in Minsk to outline the parameters for the implementation of commitments on a ceasefire in Ukraine laid down in the 12-point Minsk Protocol of September 5, 2014.

The Contact Group’s meetings in December 2014 and January 2015 were nearly fruitless. The Group held regular talks in Minsk on February 10-12, 2015, signing a 13-point Package of Measures on implementation of the September 2014 Minsk agreements.

The Package of Measures (Minsk-2) included cessation of fire from February 15, 2015, withdrawal of heavy armaments, as well as measures on long-term political settlement in Ukraine, in particular establishment of working subgroups. The ceasefire has been repeatedly violated.

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Eastern Ukraine

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