The peace talks in Minsk have registered a number of positive steps but in general they have fallen short of our expectations, official representatives of the Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics to the contact group for peaceful settlement of the conflict in the southeast of Ukraine Denis Pushilin and Vladislav Deinego said after the talks on June 16.
“The positive steps registered at the meeting are not enough for real settlement. The process is moving very slowly and this is having an impact on the situation on the contact line,” Pushilin said.
He said that the parties are at variance on certain points. “In fact, the Ukrainian side is stalemating some points, we are not losing hope, but if we fail to intensify the process, we will come into a deadlock,” Pushilin said.
According to Deinego, Kiev ignored their proposal for amending Ukraine’s Constitution and conducting elections in Donbass.
On June 16, Minsk hosted the meetings of the contact group for peaceful settlement of the conflict in the southeast of Ukraine and its humanitarian and political sub-groups.
