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Militants of Luhansk won't lay down arms until Kiev withdraws army from Donbas

Before Poroshenko declared the unilateral termination of operations in the southeast of the country till June 27

© ЕРА/VALENTINA SVISTUNOVA

LUGANSK, June 20, /ITAR-TASS/. The self-defence forces of the Lugansk People’s Republic have refused to lay down arms in response to today’s statement of Ukrainian President Pyotr Poroshenko on unilateral ceasefire in southeast Ukraine until June 27, Agence France Presse Valery Bolotov, the head of the Lugansk People’s Republic, as saying.

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“Our people will not lay down arms until Ukraine does not pull out all troops from our territory,” Bolotov said.

During his visit to Svyatogorsk, located 15 kilometers to the north of Slavyansk in the Donetsk region earlier on Friday, Poroshenko ordered all Ukrainian army units fighting in the country’s southeast and the border guards to cease fire until June 27.

Poroshenko said that the ceasefire was designed to enable the Kiev authorities’ foes to lay down arms. He warned that those who would refuse to do that would be destroyed, Ukraine’s Interior Ministry wrote on its website.

The Ukrainian president also said military hostilities during the ceasefire could be possible only if the Ukrainian troops had to return fire.

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