Donbas exiles ask president to refrain from direct talks with Russian proxies

Leading pro-Western Donbas exiles recorded a video
appeal, published on Mar. 19, in which they appealed to President Zelensky and
Andriy Yermak, his lead negotiator in Donbas, to refrain from forming any
forums for direct talks with Russia’s Donbas proxies at the Minsk peace talks.
“This is an enormous political mistake, not only because this makes subjects
(in the conflict) out of those who aren’t. Not only because it makes Russia an
observer instead of an enemy. But also because if this occurs, all the suffering
that prisoners underwent, thousands of my fellow Donbas natives, will have been
for naught,” Stanislav Asyeyev, a journalist involved in the December prisoner
exchange, said in the appeal entitled, “Mr. President, Don’t Do This!” In all,
six leading Donbas exiles recorded their statements against direct talks with
the Russian proxies.

Recall, Yermak, who serves as the head of the
President’s Office, confirmed on Mar. 13 the Ukrainian government is preparing to form a consultative
council within the political subgroup of the Trilateral
Contact Group in Minsk in which Ukrainian diplomats will engage in direct talks
with the leaders of the self-declared republics of Donbas for the first time.
He signed a protocol with Russian diplomats consisting of several new measures,
including the council’s creation, on Mar. 11 with former President Kuchma, who
is Ukraine’s lead negotiator. The decision was highly criticized by Ukraine’s
pro-Western leaders, who warned of grave consequences to Ukraine’s geopolitical
future and filed criminal complaints of state treason.

Russian-backed forces extended the warfare in the
Donbas region on Mar. 19, killing a Ukrainian army sergeant and injuring another
soldier, as reported by official military sources. The forces engaged in 15
offensives using armaments prohibited by the Minsk Accords, including mortars,
armored transport vehicles, grenade launchers, high-caliber machine guns and
sniper fire. Another three Ukrainian soldiers were injured in fighting on Mar.
18. The Russian Armed Forces also conducted in recent days a military exercise
involving 1,500 parachutists at a base in Crimea, the Russian Defense Ministry
reported this morning.

Zenon Zawada: Incredibly
enough, the Russians aren’t phased by the coronavirus threat and are extending
their warfare in Ukraine as usual. That’s despite at least 600 suspicions of
coronavirus cases reported in occupied Donbas between Mar. 11 and 18, according
to human rights workers. So the Ukrainian government is under an incredible
amount of stress from the pressures in Donbas, the coronavirus and the oncoming
economic recession. This creates even more temptation for Zelensky to offer
concessions to Russia in Donbas in order to remove a large source of the
government’s problems. So despite warnings from pro-Western politicians,
intellectuals and activists, we expect the Zelensky administration to move
forward in offering concessions to Russia, with the aim of ending the warfare
and gaining support from the wider public, which is exhausted from the war.