Ukrainian official: There are indications that the Kremlin is willing to give up the Donbas
The Ukrainian Deputy Minister for the temporarily occupied territories and internally displaced persons, George Tuka, is convinced that Ukraine will regain control over the occupied territory of the Donbas in 2017 or in mid-2018 at the latest. Tuka stated this in his interview with Novoye Vremya.
“Currently, Russia is ready to give back the Donbas only on its own terms. However, I am sure that Ukraine will manage to take over the initiative and implement its own scenario on the return of the occupied territories. I really hope that this will happen in 2017, at the latest in mid-2018,” Tuka noted. He emphasized that for this purpose it is important to maintain the support of Europe and the United States.
“There are many facts confirming the readiness of the Kremlin to surrender the Donbas. The Russian Federation doesn’t see these territories in its composition. One of the clearest pieces of evidence is seen when comparing the activities of Russian occupation forces in the Crimea and in the Donbas. The indiscriminate looting and destruction of enterprises take place in the Donbas. In fact, they doomed the region to economic extinction. No such things are observed in the Crimea. On the contrary, the Russian authorities forced large private companies to invest in Crimean business projects and infrastructure facilities. That is the fundamental difference,” Tuka said.
The Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, Oleksandr Turchynov, recently announced his belief that 2017 will become a turning point in liberating the occupied territories.