Direct Talks with Russia to Resolve the Conflict in Donbas

To resolve the conflict in Donbas, Ukraine needs to embark on a direct dialogue with the Russian Federation. This opinion was expressed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba.

He also added that Russia is refusing a direct dialogue, insisting on talks with representatives of the unrecognized self-proclaimed republics.

“There is one issue that is blocking everything. If you solve it, you can move forward. This issue is a direct dialogue. Russia insists that we must negotiate exclusively with the so-called DNR and LNR, and we insist that we have a direct dialogue with the Russian Federation and seek a solution with them. It would be possible to achieve a breakthrough in many issues if we could solve this problem,” Kuleba said, noting that there is no solution yet.

At the same time, Moscow stated that now they see no reason to hold a new summit of the heads of the Normandy Quartet.

According to Deputy Head of Russia’s Presidential Administration Dmitry Kozak, “the summit can be held only if the decisions of previous summits are implemented.”. He also noted that none of the agreements of the Paris summit have been fulfilled so far, and the statement of the representatives of Ukraine about the possibility of a new meeting in the near future is an attempt to pretend that what is desired is real.

As a reminder, the leaders of the Normandy Quartet political advisers held talks in Berlin last week. It was later announced that a thorough conversation had taken place, but there was no need to talk about a breakthrough.

Bohdan Marusyak