Kiev on Political Deathbed, May Annul Minsk Agreement on Ukraine

Alexander Zakharchenko, the head of the eastern Ukrainian self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic said that while Kiev is on its deathbed in political agony, it might fully annul Minsk agreements and begin a full-scale war in Donbass.

DONETSK (Sputnik) – Kiev may annul the Minsk agreement on Ukrainian reconciliation and begin a full-scale war against the country’s eastern regions, the head of the eastern Ukrainian self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic said Friday.

“While Kiev is on its deathbed in political agony, it might fully annul all agreements and begin a full-scale war…Then the situation will escalate very quickly, but this isn’t the most desirable variant for Kiev, the republics, or the international community,” Alexander Zakharchenko said.

Kiev is categorically unwilling to implement the Minsk accords, he noted.

"The political situation in the country is strained to the limit. The Minsk agreements are another nail in the coffin of Ukraine. The main provisions [of the deal], the ceasefire, the adoption of the new Constitution, the law on the special status are not implemented, nothing is coordinated with us. How they will get out of the situation, time will show," Zakharchenko told reporters.

In the current and in the following year, the Donetsk People’s Republic will continue building its own state, he added. "Up to the end of the year and the next year, we are going to build our own state… The main problem of our economy is that we spend more money on war than on peace," the DPR head outlined.

In February 2015, the leaders of Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France brokered the Minsk peace deal, later signed by representatives of Kiev and the Donbas militias.

The Minsk agreements stipulate a ceasefire, a weaponry withdrawal from the line of contact in eastern Ukraine, constitutional reforms to decentralize power in the country, and the granting of a special status to the Donbas region.