DONETSK, February 10. /TASS/. Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky’s greed has made him forget all his election promises to stop the Donbass war, adviser to the head of the central executive committee of the ‘Donetsk Republic’ social movement (Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) ruling party - TASS) Andrei Bedilo said Monday, commenting on Kiev’s plans to build military bases in Mariupol and Severodonetsk.

"Greed prevailed over conscience. In the past six months, Zelensky and his team seem to have successfully mastered criminal schemes of former Ukrainian President Pyotr Poroshenko aimed at enriching themselves by [continuing to wage] war [in Donbass] and, therefore, stopping it is no longer expedient. One shouldn’t be looking at any other explanations behind the change of the direction of his policies and nature of his rhetoric," Donetsk News Agency quotes him as saying.

According to the lawmaker, all Zelensky’s election promises to establish peace in Donbass turned out to be a lie. "In other words, not only de-escalation of conflict is not envisioned but, on the contrary, the Ukrainian army is getting ready to bolster its military presence in the region," he concluded.

Ukrainian Defense Minister Andrei Zagorodnyuk earlier announced that Ukrainian authorities are planning to build two military bases in Donbass in accordance with NATO standards and house them in Mariupol (Donetsk Region) and Severodonetsk (Lugansk Region). In February 2019, the Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada (parliament) adopted constitutional amendments, enshrining the country’s course to join NATO that say, "Ukraine’s Euro-Atlantic course is irreversible." In 2015, Kiev passed a new military doctrine stipulating that the Ukrainian Armed Forces should be fully compatible with NATO allies’ armies by 2020.