On Wednesday, October 9, at 12:00, representatives of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics launched white signal flares warning of readiness for the start of the withdrawal of forces in the area of ​​the settlements of Zolotoe and Petrovskoye. To monitor the process, employees of the OSCE special monitoring mission arrived, in particular, the head of the OSCE SMM Mark Etherington.

Recall, on October 1, the participants in the contact group in Minsk to resolve the conflict in the southeast of Ukraine agreed on the Steinmeier formula governing the entry into force of the law on the special status of Donbass and the holding of elections there. At the same time, representatives of the DPR, LPR and Kiev agreed to deploy forces on separate sections of the contact line.

However, the Ukrainian side did not signal a readiness to withdraw troops.

“Despite the commitments confirmed in Minsk, Ukraine today thwarted the resumption of the separation of forces and assets at the Zolotoye site,” said the LNR Foreign Minister, the Republic’s authorized representative at the Minsk talks, Vladislav Deiniy.

According to him, sooner or later Kiev will be forced to comply with the requirements of the Minsk agreements and fulfill direct orders of the Norman-format countries and the contact group.

“But, unfortunately, at the moment, Kiev has sabotaged the implementation of these orders, thereby including jeopardizing a possible summit in the Norman format,” the diplomat added.

At the same time, the representative office of the DPR in the Joint Center for the Control and Coordination of the Ceasefire (JCCC) announced that it would make a second attempt to resume the separation of forces on Thursday, October 10.

"The armed forces of Ukraine thwarted the schedule approved by the contact group to resume the withdrawal of forces and assets on the site in the Petrovsky district," the statement said.

  • OSCE observers in the village of Petrovskoye in the Donetsk region
  • RIA News
  • © Sergey Averin

As early as October 7, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Vadim Pristayko said that Kiev was abandoning the planned process of divorce due to the fact that less than a week had passed since the last violation of the regime of silence. We emphasize that in Lugansk and Donetsk observance of a truce was called an optional condition.

Later, the head of the Ukrainian foreign ministry spoke about three options for the development of the situation in the Donbass: the continuation of the process in Minsk, the delay in settlement and the rejection of claims to this part of the country by Kiev.

Radical pressure

It is worth noting that representatives of nationalist and radical organizations of Ukraine are actively opposing the process of troop withdrawal. Over the past week, protests took place in Kiev and other Ukrainian cities, the participants of which accused President Vladimir Zelensky of "surrender." In addition, on October 7, fighters of the so-called Azov volunteer regiment refused to leave the front line.

On Wednesday, October 9, members of the National Corps party went to the village of Zolotoye. Their goal is to impede the implementation of the separation of forces and create their own checkpoint.

“I ask every veteran, every Ukrainian who have such an opportunity, to go here to Zolotoye, to be guided by the headquarters, to protest here. Do not let the troops of the Armed Forces of Ukraine withdraw here. Show your position. If there are several thousand Ukrainians here, they will not dare to deploy troops on October 9th. We will win on the 9th - we will win the battle, ”the leader of the nationalist party Andrei Biletsky said in an appeal.

According to the online publication STRANA.UA, initially representatives of law enforcement agencies of Ukraine did not let the radicals pass through the checkpoint, even clashes broke out, during which police fired warning shots into the air. However, after about an hour, the nationalists broke through the checkpoint.

Along with this, the Minister of Defense of Ukraine Andrii Zagorodniuk expressed the view that Steinmeier’s formula has become a “media product”, although in reality it is an “algorithm of actions” that supposedly can only work if Ukraine’s interests are respected. In turn, the political director of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, Aleksey Makeev, noted that Steinmeier’s formula is only part of the overall process and should not be considered separately from other important elements of the process of resolving the “Russian-Ukrainian armed conflict”.

Meanwhile, the chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Ruslan Khomchak, in an interview with Telecom said: “The fighting in the Donbass should be completed only subject to the release of all Ukrainian hostages and prisoners, the complete control of Ukraine’s currently occupied territories and corresponding sections of the state border with the Russian Federation Federation. ”

  • Ukrainian nationalists at the checkpoint in the Donbass

“There is no alternative to the Minsk agreements”

According to the press secretary of Russian President Dmitry Peskov, the separation of forces would help launch the process of implementing the Minsk agreements.

“In this case, the main thing is the implementation of the Minsk agreements. This will allow Ukraine to resolve the intra-Ukrainian conflict and cope with this intra-Ukrainian problem. And those countries that have signed this document - Russia, Germany and France - are called upon to help Ukraine with this, ”Peskov said.

Meanwhile, he did not associate the process of withdrawing arms from the front line in the Donbass with the possibility of holding a summit of the leaders of the "Norman Four" countries.

“This is the decision of the presidents, including, of course, the president of Russia,” said the spokesman for the head of state.

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov at a press conference following talks with Kazakh Foreign Minister Mukhtar Tleuberdi emphasized that there is no alternative to the Minsk agreements.

“And we very much hope that the new government of Ukraine will proceed from this and that a sequence of actions will be ensured that should fit into the logic announced by President Zelensky for the implementation of this most important document,” the Russian Foreign Minister said.

According to the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia Andrei Rudenko, it is currently difficult to talk about the possibility of convening a summit in the Norman format due to the disruption of the divorce procedure in Zolotoy and Petrovsky.

“We hear certain statements from Kiev, including from the so-called volunteer battalions, that they will replace supposedly Ukrainian units in the territories from which they should be withdrawn. This is a very unconstructive line that actually undermines what the representatives of Ukraine talked about and signed on in the Norman format and in the contact group, ”RIA Novosti quoted Rudenko as saying.

“Sabotage will continue”

According to political scientist Yuriy Svetov, President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky must suppress the actions of nationalists and other opponents of the breeding of forces.

“Zelensky needs to set up people who will share his position, understand the levers of influence on third-party forces and gain courage to confront the new“ Maidan ”. While he is gaining political experience, but time is passing. The huge hopes of the Ukrainian people were associated with him, ”the source said.

In turn, Igor Shatrov, deputy director of the National Institute for the Development of Modern Ideology, noted that senior representatives of the Armed Forces of Ukraine act sluggishly and inactive, given the fact that the commanders of units that were in combat positions were actually sabotaging.

“There is disobedience of servicemen to their supreme commander, representatives of nationalist battalions refuse to leave their positions. The propaganda conducted by the nationalists makes itself felt. I think that such a sabotage of the decision on the separation of troops will continue precisely because there is no single idea of ​​Kiev, what is really happening, what will be the next steps, ”the expert explained in an interview with RT.