‘The reality is that Ukraine has lost Donbass’ — RT Op-Edge

‘The reality is that Ukraine has lost Donbass’ — RT Op-Edge



‘The reality is that Ukraine has lost Donbass’


It is too late for decentralization, as E. Ukraine’s self-defense forces want full independence from Kiev after its bloody military campaign, international law expert Alexander Mercouris told RT. Kiev now needs a ceasefire because it’s losing, he argued.

On Friday, Kiev officials and representatives of the two self-proclaimed republics in southeastern Ukraine agreed to a ceasefire as the contact group met behind closed doors in Belarus.

Commenting on the ceasefire, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said: “We are ready to provide the significant steps, including decentralization of power.”

However, following the deaths and damage caused by Kiev's military offensive, Mercouris believes that decentralization is no longer an option for Eastern Ukrainians.

RT: Is decentralization possible in these current circumstances?

Alexander Mercouris: I don’t think there is any prospect of that at all. The people who are resisting the Ukrainian government have made quite clear that their objective is full independence from Ukraine. If decentralization was proposed in March or April, possibly many people in eastern Ukraine, in this area of Donbass which has been fighting, would have accepted it. After all the killing and all the destruction, I don’t think there are any takers for that plan. And I think, frankly, the reality is that Ukraine has lost Donbass.

http://rt.com/op-edge/185512-ukraine-lost-donbas-nato/