Ukrainian President Escalates Conflict In Donbas By Calling On Army To Open Fire - DPR

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko is escalating the conflict in eastern region of Donbas by calling on the Ukrainian armed forces to open fire in the conflict region, the acting foreign minister of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic told Sputnik on Friday.

DONETSK (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 12th October, 2018) Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko is escalating the conflict in eastern region of Donbas by calling on the Ukrainian armed forces to open fire in the conflict region, the acting foreign minister of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic told Sputnik on Friday.

On Thursday, Poroshenko visited the drills in the Khmelnytskyi region where he called on the country's army to open fire in Donbas in order to "save people's lives" and "protect any Ukrainian warrior."

"Instead of finally implementing the agreement on reconciliation of the conflict unleashed by the Ukrainian government, the president is provoking escalation on the contact line," Natalia Nikonorova said.

From the DPR acting foreign minister's point of view, Poroshenko's remarks are absurd and demonstrate his real plans to the whole world.

"That is undoubtedly a blatant violation of both the Minsk agreements and the international humanitarian law that is becoming total amid the absolute lack of any activities of the western sponsors of Ukraine," Nikonorova added.

The conflict in Donbas started in 2014, when the Ukrainian authorities launched a military operation against the DPR and the Luhansk People's Republic (LPR), which had refused to recognize the new government in Kiev that 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 fighting in the region, but the situation has remained tense, with both parties accusing each other of ceasefire violations.