On January 24, a possible offensive by Ukrainian troops in the Donbass was announced in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, and then in the Kremlin. “The Ukrainian authorities are concentrating a huge amount of forces and means on the border with the self-proclaimed republics on the line of contact, indeed, the nature of this concentration indicates preparation for offensive actions, and, indeed, there is such a threat now,” Dmitry Peskov, press secretary of the Russian president, said at the time. . He has repeatedly stressed that Russia has no plans to invade Ukraine.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, in turn, said that the priority for Ukraine now is “achieving stable and unconditional silence in the Donbas.” According to him, the country needs guarantees that the ceasefire regime will be observed, on the basis of which the next steps can be taken to resolve the situation. He noted that in order to fulfill the Minsk agreements, it is necessary to intensify the work of the Normandy format at the level of leaders.
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The Russian side invited Zelensky to Moscow, St. Petersburg or Sochi to discuss bilateral relations at the highest level. The situation in Donbass needs to be discussed in the contact group, said Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
Zelensky responded by saying that he sees no point in negotiating without discussing the topic of Donbass. The Ukrainian authorities have repeatedly said that they will not enter into direct negotiations with the “separatists” – the DPR and the LPR.