Donetsk, Dec 26 – DAN. Minsk Agreements aim for international recognition of Donbass people rights and defining the conditions of co-existence with Ukraine, said DPR Head Denis Pushilin on Tuesday.

"We are negotiating and will keep negotiating. We are perfectly aware that this is our opportunity to recognize internationally the freedom we enjoy as a fact. There should also be an understanding of how and on what condition we co-exist with Ukraine. Minsk Agreements implementation should give the answer."

Pushilin said that the DPR remains committed to the agreements. He said the negotiations are the key to understanding between the sides.

The DPR Head highlighted that the number of shelling incidents grew as Ukraine's leadership changed.
"With Zelensky in power the situation deteriorated: more shelling, more destruction, more deaths."

The Minsk Agreements comprise documents signed on September 5 and 19, 2014 and February 12, 2015 stipulating ceasefire, disengagement of forces, liberation of POWs and a number of political steps to settle the conflict between Ukraine and Donbass.

The Normandy Four leaders met on December 9 in Paris and agreed to facilitate the release and exchange of conflict-related detainees by year-end, based on the “all for all” principle; to commit to a full and comprehensive implementation of the ceasefire; to support an agreement within the trilateral Contact Group on three additional disengagement areas; to incorporate the Steinmeier formula into the Ukrainian legal system to provide special status to the Donbass region. *ot