DPR, LPR Leaders to Attend Minsk Talks Only if Kiev Stops Shelling Donbas

DPR envoy to the Minsk talks Denis Pushilin stated that heads of the self-proclaimed republics of Donetsk and Luhansk will arrive in Minsk for the peace talks only if Kiev authorities stop shelling of cities in eastern Ukraine.

MINSK, January 31 (Sputnik) – The heads of the self-proclaimed republics of Donetsk and Luhansk (DPR and LPR) will arrive in Minsk for the peace talks only if Kiev authorities stop shelling of cities in eastern Ukraine, DPR envoy to the talks Denis Pushilin said Saturday.

"The conditions remain the same: all military operations have to be ceased. The shelling of the residential areas must be stopped due to the fact that the heads [of DPR and LPR] are engaged directly in the confrontation and dealing with the consequences," Pushilin told reporters in Minsk.

According to RIA a Novosti correspondent, Russian Ambassador in Ukraine Mikhail Zurabov, former Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma representing Kiev and OSCE envoy to Ukraine Heidi Tagliavini have already arrived in Minsk for Ukrainian peace talks.

The talks on Ukrainian conciliation have already been held in the capital of Belarus in September 2014 and resulted in ceasefire agreement between Kiev forces and independence supporters in the southeast of Ukraine.

However, the confrontation between the warring parties intensified severely in the beginning of 2015, deemed by the UN to be the "worst hostilities" since the truce was signed.