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No plans for military offensive in Donbass, Ukrainian top diplomat says

He asserted that Ukraine has no plans to restore its nuclear arsenal

UNITED NATIONS, February 23. /TASS/. Ukraine is not and was not planning a military offensive in Donbass, any provocations or the acts of sabotage, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba said at a session of the UN General Assembly on Wednesday.

According to him, the crisis around Ukraine was allegedly "unilaterally created and escalated by the Russian Federation." "Russia’s accusations against Ukraine are absurd, Ukraine has never threatened or attacked anyone," the Ukrainian top diplomat asserted. "Ukraine has never planned and is not planning a military offensive against Donbass, provocations or the acts of sabotage," he added.

He asserted that Ukraine has no plans to restore its nuclear arsenal. "In 1994, Ukraine, by means of denuclearization, made a historic contribution to global security. We relinquished the third largest nuclear arsenal worldwide and we don’t have plans to return our nuclear armaments," the Ukrainian top diplomat stated.

The Ukrainian foreign minister insisted that Russia may continue to escalate the situation and urged the global community not to recognize the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics (DPR and LPR) as independent. Following the session, he reiterated that a peacekeeping operation can be launched without coordination with the UN Security Council.

The situation at the Donbass engagement line flared up on February 17. The self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics (DPR and LPR) reported the most massive bombardments by the Ukrainian armed forces over the past months. On February 18, LPR and DPR Heads Leonid Pasechnik and Denis Pushilin announced civilian evacuations from the republics to Russia due to the mounting danger of hostilities. On February 19, the Donbass republics announced a general mobilization.

On February 21, Russian President Vladimir Putin recognized the sovereignty of the DPR and LPR. Agreements on friendship, cooperation and mutual assistance were signed with their leaders.

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