“This document gave Ukraine eight years to build an army, an economy and a global pro-Ukrainian anti-Putin coalition,” RIA Novosti quoted him as saying.
In addition, Christoph Heusgen, adviser to ex-Chancellor Angela Merkel on security policy, noted in the film that before signing the relevant document, Poroshenko complained to Merkel about the depressing situation of Ukrainian troops in Debaltseve.
“Poroshenko clearly told her that the Ukrainian troops were defeated, they could barely hold the lines, that if the Russians broke through, they could go all the way to Kyiv.
So he needed an agreement,” Heusgen said.
Earlier, Merkel called the Minsk agreements an attempt to give Ukraine time to "become stronger."
She noted that today's Ukraine militarily is "not what it was in 2014-2015."
Later, former French President Francois Hollande said that the Minsk agreements allowed the Ukrainian army to become stronger and "stopped Russia's offensive for a while."
Russian President Vladimir Putin noted that he was disappointed with the statement of the ex-Chancellor of Germany.
He stressed that Russia did the right thing by launching a special operation, because no one was going to fulfill the Minsk agreements.
Last week, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba announced Kyiv's unwillingness to conclude an agreement with Russia similar to the Minsk agreements.