You're reading: Leader: Donetsk People’s Republic to hold no talks with Kyiv before troop pullout

The prime minister of the Donetsk People's Republic said the latter will hold no talks with the Ukrainian government before Kyiv withdraws all its armed forces from Donbas.

“We are not holding any official negotiations with Kyiv, nor are we going to hold any for the moment. For as long as our territory is under occupation there will be no discussions with Kyiv. When the foot of the last armed man leaves our territory, we will possibly receive some mediators,” Oleksandr Borodai told reporters on May 17.

He also said the Donetsk People’s Republic closely cooperates and is going to merge with the Luhansk People’s Republic.

“The unification of Luhansk and Donetsk is already practically a fact. We coordinate our efforts with the leaders of the Luhansk People’s Republic. Naturally there will be unification. We have the same ideology, the same enemy, and the same friend,” he said.

Borodai said there would be no voting on the territory of the Donetsk People’s Republic as part of Ukraine’s planned presidential election on May 25.