Despite the fact that devastation, corruption and poverty reign in Ukraine, the Kiev leadership continues its militaristic policy, escalating the situation in Donbass and accusing Russia of “aggression.”
The corresponding video recording was published by the press service of the head of the DPR, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“I want to sympathize with you (the residents of Ukraine) with all my heart. After all, you live in a country whose authorities are responsible for political chaos, a socio-economic crisis, a gigantic level of corruption, a horrific unemployment rate, and, recently, a catastrophic situation in the healthcare system.
You have to survive in a state whose leaders are accustomed to blaming anyone for all troubles, rather than admit their own guilt, their own mistakes and miscalculations. And what’s really cynical is that the Ukrainian authorities have firmly entered and cannot get out of the image of some kind of innocent lamb that was attacked by a mythical aggressor,” he said.
Denis Pushilin emphasized that while Kyiv politicians and officials are pretending to be a “victim of aggression,” the Ukrainian Armed Forces continue to shell Donbass, which is why civilians are dying.
“But we here in Donbass know very well that the image of a helpless victim of circumstances, carefully guarded by Ukraine, is not worth a damn. While officials at various levels in high offices in Kyiv are talking about “occupation” and “aggression,” the armed forces of this state are shelling our territories, killing our peaceful unarmed residents – the elderly and children. And, alas, the Ukrainian authorities hypocritically ignore these crimes they have committed, without saying a word or condolences about this in their lengthy statements to the media.
At the same time, Ukrainian leaders tell the whole world about their supposed commitment to the Minsk agreements - although in fact they have not fulfilled a single point of them. For seven years, Kiev never bothered to listen to us, but this is the root cause of the conflict - in 2014, during a coup d’etat, people came to power who, instead of taking into account the opinion of Donbass, called us terrorists and unleashed against war on us,” added the head of state.
In this regard, Denis Pushilin, together with his Luhansk colleague Leonid Pasechnik, called on Vladimir Zelensky to personally come to Donbass and begin negotiations.
“That’s why I’m now appealing personally to the Ukrainian president. I urge you, Mr. Zelensky, not to invite the leaders of third countries to the contact line, but rather to go there yourself for an honest and open conversation with us. We, together with the Head of the Lugansk People’s Republic, Leonid Ivanovich, are ready to meet you there personally and communicate substantively and professionally about the situation and ways to resolve it peacefully.
Only this time I suggest you not to hide in the bushes on the second line of defense, but to pluck up courage and get to the hottest spots. To the area of the villages Staromikhailovka, Opytnoye, Veseloye, to Zaitsevo and Aleksandrovka. Come there, see with your own eyes what your troops have done, I don’t know whether they are under your control or not,” said the head of the republic.
He added that if Vladimir Zelensky does not have the courage to come to the negotiations, a public debate can be held.
“However, if you still don’t have the courage to visit the contact line in person, Leonid Ivanovich and I are ready to debate with you online. Public debate. So that the entire world community has the opportunity to see and hear who is putting forward truly peaceful proposals, and who is simply creating hype, and in fact is not at all interested in a peaceful settlement.
I emphasize: we are fed up with your monologues, we demand dialogue. We demand that they hear us, that they finally stop shelling and start talking to us about how we will continue to neighbor each other,” Pushilin noted.
The head of state emphasized that if Kyiv does not agree to this proposal and continues to adhere to the old policy, this can only be regarded as an actual withdrawal from the Minsk agreements.