Settlement Of Conflict In Eastern Ukraine Possible Only Via Contact Between Kiev, Donbas

Settlement of Conflict in Eastern Ukraine Possible Only Via Contact Between Kiev, Donbas

The full settlement of the conflict in south-eastern Ukraine is possible only via direct contact between Kiev administration and the authorities of Donbas region which comprises the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) and the Luhansk People's Republic (LPR), Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 18th July, 2019) The full settlement of the conflict in south-eastern Ukraine is possible only via direct contact between Kiev administration and the authorities of Donbas region which comprises the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) and the Luhansk People's Republic (LPR), Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday.

"The only thing I would like to draw attention to is what you said - the full settlement of the conflict in the southeast, in Donbas, is possible only in the case of direct contact between Kiev authorities and representatives of these republics [DPR and LPR], Putin said at a meeting with the chairman of the political council of Ukrainian party Opposition Platform For Life, Viktor Medvedchuk.

Putin stressed that not a single conflict in modern history was resolved without direct negotiations between the conflicting parties.

"Russia will also do everything in its power to ensure that this process [of the peaceful settlement of the crisis] goes at the required pace and with the necessary quality," Putin said.

The conflict in Donbas started in 2014 when the Ukrainian authorities launched a military operation against the self-proclaimed republics in the region that refused to recognize the new government in Kiev, which came to power after what they considered to be a coup. In February 2015, the warring parties signed the Minsk peace accords to end the hostilities in the region, but the situation has remained tense, with both parties accusing each other of ceasefire violations.