Luhansk Representative Slams Kiev For Justifying Usage Of Military Drone

LUHANSK (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 29th October, 2021) Kiev's statements on the legitimacy of the use of the Bayraktar drone by the Ukrainian military are a provocation, the representative of the self-proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic in the contact group on the settlement of the conflict in Donbas, Rodion Miroshnik, said on Thursday.

The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on Tuesday said that the Ukrainian military began employing the Bayraktar strike drone in the Donbas. Flights of military aircraft and unmanned aerial vehicles along the entire contact line are prohibited by the Minsk agreements, however, the head of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said that the use of a drone in Donbas was not a violation of the Minsk agreements, and all the procedures were followed.

"Ukrainian officials rushed to declare that they have the right to violate the Minsk agreements.

For the international community, this is a provocation, and if the Ukrainians are not (slapped on the wrists), they may think that they have a green light for a military scenario," Miroshnik told Sputnik.

In April 2014, the Ukrainian authorities launched a military operation against the self-proclaimed DPR and LPR, which declared independence after the coup d'etat in Kiev in February 2014. According to the latest UN data, about 13,000 people became victims of the conflict. The issue of resolving the situation in Donbas is being discussed, among other things, during the meetings of the Minsk contact group, which since September 2014 has already adopted three documents regulating steps to de-escalate the conflict. However, even after the armistice agreements between the parties to the conflict, hostilities continue.