Donetsk, Feb 12 - DAN. Ukraine bears full blame for the failure to implement the international accords on a peaceful settlement in Donbass, said Donetsk People’s Republic leader Denis Pushilin, speaking on the fourth anniversary of the signing of the Package of Measures.

“Kiev stalls the negotiations pointedly forgetting that the UN Security Council unanimously adopted the resolution in support of the Minsk accords in 2015 and that it is binding for all members of the organisation,” Pushilin said in comments received by the Donetsk News Agency.

Ukrainian representatives strongly resent the initiative to put the Donbass issue on the UN Security Council agenda, he said.

“Kiev tries to accuse Russia of manipulating the international public opinion, presents it as playing a role in the Donbass conflict and blames it for derailing the Minsk Agreements. Ukraine is silent on the fact that Kiev is fully to blame for not fulfilling the agreements,” the DPR Head said.

He thanked Russia for its support of the Donbass Republics in the international arena during the whole period since Ukrainian authorities began armed aggression against the Donbass people.

The Agreements dated September 5 and 19, 2014 and February 12, 2015 forged by the Contact Group in Minsk make groundwork for a peaceful settlement of the Donbass conflict. The Contact Group set forth a peace plan and agreed a ceasefire, then adopted the Memorandum on ceasefire implementation and later on the Package of Measures for the Implementation of the Minsk Agreements.

It envisioned immediate and comprehensive ceasefire in Donbass, withdrawal of heavy weapons, establishment of security zones, discussion of the modalities for the resumption of payment of pensions and allowances to DPR and LPR citizens, and constitutional reform in Ukraine which should result in deep decentralisation. *jk