Donetsk, Jan 22 – DAN. The refusal of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense to disengage forces testifies to the chaos among authorities, said DPR Foreign Minister Natalia Nikonorova.
Earlier Ukrainian minister of defense Andrey Zagorodnuyk told Interfax news agency that Ukraine "stands against the disengagement all along the line of contact, because such way is a wrong one, and it contradicts the very nature of Minsk Agreements".
"Judging by the statement, the chaos and confusion in the heads of Ukrainian officials grows more and more. It is difficult to come up with another explanation to the fact that they consider the disengagement a wrong way that contradicts the agreements," Nikonorova said.
"This is the most effective and efficient way to secure a truly stable ceasefire".
The defense ministry chief has reached an utmost level of cynicism as he is ready to prolong the conflict despite all the victims, aftermath of shelling, injuries, just to "avoid lobbying the lift of sanctions and release of international community tension".
The disengagement of forces and hardware is one of the key conditions of the Minsk Agreements.
LPR and DPR representatives initialed a Framework Agreement on pullback of forces in Donbass on September 21-23, 2016, which was also signed by representatives of Ukraine, Russia and the OSCE. The document provides for three disengagement areas around Zolotoye, Stanitsa Luganskaya (LPR territory) and Petrovskoe (DPR territory).
Security zones of at least zone two km wide and two km long have been established in each sector.
Currently the DPR and LPR are calling on Ukraine to designate other areas where forces shall be disengaged. *ot