Ukraine is ready for dialogue with residents of Donetsk and Luhansk regions, but not with “stooges who impersonate residents of Donbas”, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Vadym Prystaiko said.
“We are ready for a dialogue with residents of Donbas, but not with fake stooges of the so-called representatives. This dialogue should include all temporarily displaced people from Donbas inside Ukraine. The voice of internally displaced persons should also be heard in Minsk,” he said on Feb. 20 at a debate of the UN General Assembly on the situation in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine.
The minister also confirmed that Ukraine is ready to hold local elections throughout the country this fall, but stressed that the most important condition for this is to ensure the political component of the Minsk agreements.
“We look forward to local elections throughout Ukraine this fall. However, without a basic security and political settlement, people of Donbas, including those who were forced to leave their homes, will not be able to make their democratic choices at elections,” he noted.
