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Kiev government forces have been fighting Russian-backed separatists in the east of the country since 2014, when Moscow annexed the Crimean peninsula after a bloody uprising that toppled pro-Russian Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych.
France, Germany, Ukraine and Russia belong to the so-called Normandy Four, brought together to resolve the conflict in eastern Ukraine. In 2015, the parties drew up the so-called Minsk accords to reduce the escalation of the conflict.
After Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky agreed to a ceasefire regime with separatists in July last year, relative peace prevailed in the east of the country, but fighting resumed earlier this year.
“When it comes to the Normandy format, things are going badly,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in an interview with Russia’s Argumenty i fakty on Tuesday.
“It can be said that during the Zelensky presidency, there has been no progress in the implementation of both the Minsk package and the subsequent agreements reached in Paris,” he said.
Zelensky was elected president in 2019 and vowed to end the conflict in the east of the country. But critics say that the fragile ceasefire is only a tangible achievement, and talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in December 2019 have not come close to the goal of finding a lasting solution.
At least 16 Ukrainian soldiers have died since mid-February, when fighting escalated. Kiev accuses Moscow and the separatists of using prohibited weapons.
“Now we are seeing an escalation of tension on the front line,” Peskov said.
Dmitry Peskov
Itar-Tass / Scanpix
“The modest gains made in the past are now fading,” he added.
According to the United Nations, since 2014, the conflict in eastern Ukraine has taken over 13 thousand. lives.
Russia categorically denies sending arms and troops to support the separatists.
In early March, Zelensky called for a summit of the so-called Normandy Quartet and hinted at the possibility of meeting directly with Russian President Putin to end the new clashes.
The recent escalation of the situation in the so-called Donbass region jeopardizes last year’s ceasefire, which boosted hopes of resolving the conflict that erupted in 2014 following Maidan’s pro-Western revolution in Kiev and the annexation of the Crimean peninsula by Moscow.
“It just came to our attention then. It should happen,” Zelensky said.
Volodymyras Zelenskis
Zelensky emphasized that if the Fourth Normandy meeting failed, he would be willing to meet with the leaders of France, Germany and Russia separately.
A bilateral meeting between Zelensky and Putin would be the first since 2019, when the Ukrainian leader was elected on the promise of ending the war in eastern Ukraine.
Critics say the latest outbreak of violence in eastern Ukraine may be the Kremlin’s response to sanctions imposed by Ukraine last month on influential pro-Russian lawmaker Viktor Medvedchuk, a Putin ally.
“It just came to our attention then. We understand that there has been an increase in armed provocations on the front line,” Zelensky told reporters on Tuesday.
March 8 The Ukraine-led Eastern Defense Group, based in Lysyčansk, has openly stated that its monitoring shows that the armed forces of the Donbass republics are preparing for combat operations.
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