Semenchenko: Ukraine should withdraw from shameful Minsk agreements

Commanders of volunteer battalions propose to withdraw from the Minsk agreements.

The statement was made by MP Semen Semenchenko, a former commander of the Donbas battalion.

“We should withdraw from the shameful Minsk agreements. This format guarantees nothing. We need to use another format involving western mediators, first of the US. We should not ask for peace in the conditions when none of the truce terms is fulfilled, oil prices are falling, the ruble is dropping, nations begin to rebel against the Kremlin junta. These humiliating talks must become a thing of the past,” LIGABusinessInform quotes Semenchenko as saying.

According to Semenchenko, he has information that the Verkhovna Rada is ready to take the initiative in the issue.

A memorandum was signed in Minsk on September 20 following a meeting of the trilateral contact group on Ukraine. The document contains 9 clauses that ban the use of all types of weapons and forbids attacks. In accordance with the memorandum, the conflicting parties must pull their military hardware 15 kilometres from the front line and the OSCE mission should monitor the Russian-Ukrainian border. The first agreement to cease fire was reached in Minsk on September 5, but militants and Russian troops continue to fire on civilians and the Ukrainian army in eastern Ukraine.