MINSK, June 19. /TASS/. Statements by Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky at the meeting with Western leaders on his commitment to regulate the conflict in Donbass directly contradict the position of Kiev envoys to the Contact Group for the settlement in eastern Ukraine, representative of the Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR) to the political subgroup Rodion Miroshnik informed TASS on Wednesday.
"The foreign statements of Zelensky concerning his commitment to regulate the conflict in Donbass directly contradict the directives received by Kiev representatives at the Minsk talks. According to their position, Kiev representatives cannot implement Zelensky’s mandate - to activate the work in the Minsk format, at least, on the political track," Miroshnik said.
"The directives on the discussion of political issues received by Kiev delegates from Zelensky’s administration are absolutely the same as the directives received from the administration of [former Ukrainian President Pyotr] Poroshenko."
"As always, representatives of Kiev have blocked today’s discussion of all issues of political regulation. They came with the same directives under Poroshenko. Despite the efforts and the documents prepared by the OSCE coordinator to the group [Pierre Morel], representatives of Kiev were not ready to discuss the issues of political regulation," Miroshnik stated.
The LPR envoy noted that "the refusal to discuss politics comes against the backdrop of a package of Ukrainian bills approved by the Rada [Ukrainian parliament] in direct violation of the Minsk Agreements."
Earlier on Wednesday, the DPR’s foreign ministry informed that the session of the Contact Group had concluded in Minsk. "The session of the Contact Group has concluded. The next meeting in Minsk will take place on July 2, 2019," the ministry informed on its Telegram channel.
The Package of Measures for the Implementation of the Minsk Agreements signed on February 12, 2015 is the basis for all peace negotiations on the Donbass region.
It stipulates a ceasefire, a withdrawal of armaments from the contact line, a swap of all prisoners, and a constitutional reform in Ukraine in order to establish "a special status for the isolated areas of the Donetsk and Lugansk Regions".