Today, on December 19, Deputy Chairperson of the DPR Youth Parliament Yulia Soldatova met with students of the Donetsk State Music Academy named after Sergei Prokofiev. In the course of the meeting, those present discussed the results of the Normandy Four leaders’ summit and the further actions of the Ukrainian authorities.

“In the statements following the meeting with President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin, Zelensky said: “I am a man of quick hands, zap and it’s agreed.” So why is this “man of quick hands” unable to implement what was agreed back in 2014-2015? He publicly declares that he is ready to implement the Minsk Agreements, but there’s a difference between saying and actually doing. Extending the invalid law, as well as submitting amendments to the Constitution of Ukraine to the Verkhovna Rada without having agreed them with representatives of the Republics, he merely soft-soaps his state’s population, though they elected him precisely because of the rhetoric on the will to peacefully resolve the Donbass conflict.

Donbass residents will not fall for his tricks. We are clearly following our path and we know that the only option available for a peaceful settlement of the conflict is the Minsk Agreements’ implementation. Only through the fulfillment of the obligations taken and the acceptance of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics as full members of the negotiations can peace be achieved. Judging by the words of the President of Ukraine, he does not understand that behind his “zap and it’s agreed” there is the destiny of millions of lives of the Republics’ citizens, the citizens who remain committed to the choice they made five years ago: our home is Russia!” Yulia Soldatova said.

The parliamentarian also noted:

“During the war years, the Donetsk People’s Republic did not stand still and kept developing, and we will not stop there. We still need to establish many mechanisms to improve all spheres of life in the Republic. In the social sphere we can already observe, if not huge, but still considerable changes — Head of the DPR Denis Pushilin announced an increase in pensions by 20% and an increase in salaries to the public sector employees by 26% from January 1, 2020.”