Ukraine should negotiate issues related to Donbas with Russia alone, since the self-proclaimed republics do not decide anything in the negotiation processes.
This was announced by Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) Oleksiy Danilov during Savik Shuster's Svoboda Slova (Freedom of Speech) panel, the media outlet NV reported.
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According to him, the situation has been developing the way that the Donbas issue cannot be resolved by military means. That is why Ukraine is constantly negotiating, Danilov said.
The NSDC secretary added that active negotiations on Donbas mean "a great desire to end the war."
"All the negotiations that are going on today are associated with a great desire to end this war. But talking with people who do not make any decisions is just a waste of time. The only institution we have to talk to is Russia. Other people are mercenaries, they are collaborators," Danilov said.
Russian aggression: Occupation of Crimea, war in Donbas
- Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimea in March 2014 after its troops had occupied the peninsula.
- Ukraine's parliament voted to designate February 20, 2014, as the official date when the temporary occupation of Crimea began.
- On October 7, 2015, the then President Petro Poroshenko enacted the respective document.
- The West did not recognize the annexation in response to which sanctions against Russia were introduced.
