On November 8, an emergency videoconference of the Contact Group was to take place for all the negotiators to approve a new starting date for practical arrangements to eliminate violations on the disengagement site near Petrovskoye, which had been twice thwarted by Kiev.
Nevertheless, instead of an official response on this issue, representatives of Ukraine continued their practice of unilateral populist actions aimed at sabotaging all peacemaking initiatives agreed by the Contact Group.
After the October 9 disruption, the Ukrainian party proceeded to practical activities on the disengagement site near Petrovskoye. The Contact Group agreed upon other dates within the planned schedule — November 2 for preparatory steps and November 4 for launching the disengagement. Despite the agreement on the non-disclosure of dates, shortly before the practical steps to eliminate violations, the President of Ukraine stated the readiness of the AFU on this very date — November 4.
The subsequent disruption of the beginning of the process by the Ukrainian party unequivocally demonstrated the President’s real position as the Supreme Commander and exposed the political failure of our opponents’ excuses.
Despite all the provocations stated by the Ukrainian party, we expect that this time, with the active position of the mediators, that is the OSCE SMM, Kiev will demonstrate common sense and, in a coordinated, simultaneous and equivalent manner, will proceed with the implementation of the commitments to eliminate violations on the previously disengaged pilot site in the area of Petrovskoye.
For our part, we reaffirm the readiness of the units of the People’s Militia of the Donetsk People’s Republic to begin practical activities on November 9 on the previously disengaged site near Petrovskoye, which was notified to the OSCE SMM today.
Denis Pushilin,
Head of the Donetsk People’s Republic