The Minsk Agreements were the assignment of the Russian Federation, and Putin did not want the end of the war in the Donbass - Zelensky

According to the Head of State, the Minsk agreements were mistakenly regarded as a way to "reassure" the situation in the Donbass. However, they were an attempt to make concessions to Russian President Vladimir Putin and could not be fulfilled. "I told Emmanuel Macron and Angela Merkel, as well as Vladimir Putin, when we were in Normandy, the Norman format that the Minsk agreements could not be implemented in this form," Zelensky said.

He also stated that Macron and Merkel were a little angry that the President of Ukraine elected in 2019 immediately questioned the Minsk agreements. In addition, Zelensky noted that they did not include the issue of the return of the Crimea peninsula. "And when I asked the Europeans when we were going to raise this issue, they said that not here and not now. I could never talk about Crimea in Normandy. It was a real problem," the President of Ukraine said.

In addition, flew to France on the evening of February 8, Zelensky said during a press conference at the Elysee Palace that Russian President Vladimir Putin did not want the end of the war in the Donbass. According to him, when the meetings were held within the framework of the Norman format, all participants, except Putin, wanted to stop the war in eastern Ukraine. The Minsk Agreements are most commonly understood as a set of measures for the implementation of the Minsk Protocol, signed in 2014.

The document since 2015 was agreed at the Minsk leaders of Germany, France, Ukraine and Russia in the format of the Norman Four. Among the provisions of the document were the ceasefire, the removal of all heavy weapons by all parties at the same distances and others. However, almost immediately after the Armistice was announced on February 15, 2015, the OSCE special monitoring mission recorded a firing of the Ukrainian army positions.

Earlier, Focus wrote that Zelensky told about a package of assistance from the United Kingdom. According to the President, Ukraine and the United Kingdom have reached a new level of relations. A declaration of unity was signed, which captures the principles of interaction of the two countries. We will also remind that President Zelensky met with King of Great Britain Carl III. The Ukrainian leader visited Buckingham Palace as part of his visit to Britain.