The armed conflict in southeastern Ukraine, which began back in 2014, is currently "in a stage of exacerbation" due to the actions of Kiev.

This was stated in an interview with RIA Novosti by the head of the self-proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic Leonid Pasechnik.

He added that the situation on the contact line in Donbass is "quite serious and acute."

“To call the conflict frozen or smoldering, when our territories are regularly shelled by the Armed Forces of Ukraine from heavy weapons, mortars, small arms, when people are dying on our territory, is absolutely wrong.

It is far from smoldering, far from frozen, ”said Pasechnik.

Along with this, he stressed that the hostilities in Ukraine, which have been going on for more than seven years, are "a real civil war."

“It is worth talking about it out loud.

And in my opinion, it is absolutely impossible to assess it differently, because by and large, as they say, according to the same Minsk agreements, de jure we are citizens of Ukraine today.

That is, it turns out that the Armed Forces of Ukraine are shooting at their own citizens only because we did not agree with the policy that the political authorities tried to impose on us, which came to the leadership of Ukraine illegally, "he said.

  • LPR head Leonid Pasechnik

  • © glava-lnr.info

According to Pasechnik, the cause of the conflict was the strengthening of fascist sentiments in the top leadership of Ukraine.

“We did not agree that fascism should be the dominant principle.

We disagreed that we needed to rewrite our history.

We did not agree that we should definitely forget the Russian language and stop being friends with Russia.

On the contrary, we were in favor of being able to speak Russian fluently, we wanted friendship with Russia, we wanted to preserve our identity, we wanted to preserve our history, ”added the head of the LPR.

At the same time, he called the United States of America "the main beneficiary" of the situation in the Donbass.

In his opinion, Washington is using Kiev exclusively as a tool in the fight against Russia.

“Of course, only they benefit from the war on our territory ... The political leadership of the United States, so to speak, the overseas curators of the political leadership of Ukraine, are constantly pushing Ukraine to unleash active hostilities in the Donbass.

In any case, I don’t remember any projects, investment projects that would have been implemented on the territory of Ukraine, ”Pasechnik noted, adding that the Americans are helping the Ukrainian side exclusively in building up military power.

Speaking about the visit of the US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken to Kiev on May 5-6, the head of the Donbass republic expressed confidence that in the near future some aggravation of the situation in the region can be expected - “there will definitely not be any improvement”.

According to him, the settlement in Donbass "does not meet the interests" of Washington.

“We would really like to finally have common sense triumphed.

And we certainly want (America -

RT

) to give a command to their subordinates in the person of Zelensky and the entire political elite of Ukraine to end the war in Donbass, stop active hostilities, and finally triumph on our land peace, and resolve the conflicts that have arisen within the framework of the Minsk agreements, that is, peacefully.

However, I am absolutely sure of the opposite, ”explained Pasechnik.

In addition, he said that America fueled nationalist sentiments in the country, driving a wedge between Eastern and Western Ukraine.

  • President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Head of the US State Department Anthony Blinken

  • Reuters

  • © Efrem Lukatsky / Pool

In addition, Pasechnik described Donbass as “one of the hottest spots on Earth”, since the interests of various parties “clashed” in the region.

“Interests clashed here, and the conflict, it seems to me, is very serious.

Here the interests of practically all of Western Europe are affected, here our interests are affected, here they are trying to drag Russia into this situation, here in this situation the interests of America.

That is, here too many interests converged on one point, ”he said.

In this regard, Pasechnik believes that Donbass will become one of the topics of discussion during a possible meeting between the presidents of Russia and the United States, Vladimir Putin and Joe Biden.

Recall that hostilities in the southeastern part of Ukraine began in April 2014.

The internal conflict in the country led to the formation of two self-proclaimed people's republics - Luhansk and Donetsk.

The issue of the settlement of hostilities in Donbass has been discussed all these years in Minsk by the trilateral contact group.

In addition, the so-called Normandy format was formed (Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France).

According to the UN, since the beginning of the conflict in Donbass, more than 13 thousand people have died, including over 3 thousand civilians.

At the same time, about 30 thousand people were injured.

Earlier, the human rights ombudsman in the Donetsk People's Republic Daria Morozova noted in an interview with RT that although Ukraine considers the Donbass republics its territory, Kiev has not organized missions to support the population here.

“If they considered this territory theirs, then officials would be present here.

Let's remember which of them was here during these seven years.

In April 2014, local residents went to a peaceful rally and demanded only one thing: that the officials who came to power as a result of an armed coup should come from Kiev and talk to Donbass.

Instead, tanks were sent at us, an anti-terrorist operation was announced on our land, and so on, ”she said.

We add that since March in the Donbass there has been an increase in tension on the contact line.

At the same time, the opposing sides - Ukraine and the republics of the DPR and LPR - blamed each other for this.

"The transformation of Ukraine into a buffer state is beneficial to the United States"

Ukraine, supported by Western countries led by the United States, is not interested in a peaceful settlement of the conflict in Donbass, said Sergei Tsekov, a member of the Federation Council Committee on International Affairs.

“In principle, they intend to solve the problem of Donbass by force.

There have been no serious negotiations on the peaceful settlement of the conflict on the part of Ukraine for all seven years.

But the fact that it is they who are sabotaging a peaceful solution to the conflict in Donbass, I think, is well known to those who support Ukraine.

But they also want the conflict in Donbass to smolder as long as possible, periodically flaring up.

They are interested in this and support Ukraine in this.

I mean Americans and Europeans.

They make various statements, supporting Ukraine and accusing Russia that peace does not come in Donbass, "the senator said in an interview with RT.

He stressed that all responsibility for the unfavorable situation in the east of Ukraine lies with Kiev and those who support them.

At the same time, Professor of the Department of Comparative Political Science of the RUDN University Yuriy Pochta pointed out that after the signing of the Minsk Agreements, the Ukrainian side consistently sabotaged their implementation.

In addition, Kiev and the West periodically declare Russia a party to the conflict without proof.

“In principle, Kiev does not conduct real negotiations with the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics.

Not a single leader of Ukraine met with them, no one went to Donetsk and Lugansk.

Not a single Western representative went there either.

In this sense, the West fully supports Kiev in this policy.

Moreover, over the years since the adoption of the Minsk agreements, a number of laws have been adopted under Poroshenko and Zelenskiy, which completely negates the possibility of implementing the Minsk agreements, "he explained in an interview with RT.

The political scientist also stated that the United States had no interest in ending the conflict in Donbass.

“The USA is a participant in Kiev affairs, curator and trustee. And the Kiev leadership is pinning special hopes on the United States. And the Europeans are already the second echelon of Western support. But, as I understand it, they have no other plan than to put pressure on Russia and support Ukraine. The transformation of Ukraine into a buffer state is beneficial to the United States. This is part of the policy to contain Russia, ”the Post said.