Putin: it is regrettable that Russia did not begin active actions in Ukraine earlier. According to Putin, Russia did everything possible to peacefully resolve the situation around Donbass, but it was “led by the nose.” He also noted that he was disappointed by the statement of the former German Chancellor.
Merkel called the Minsk agreements an attempt to give Ukraine time to “become stronger” She noted that today’s Ukraine militarily “is no longer what it was in 2014-2015.