President: We’re ready for dialogue with population of Donbas, not with ‘DPR’, ‘LPR’ leaders

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky has declared readiness to start a dialogue with civilians living in the territories of temporarily occupied areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions, not with the so-called “authorities” of the “Donetsk People’s Republic” and “Luhansk People’s Republic”.

 “There is a need for effective mechanisms to stop the ceasefire in real life, not in words. We are being convinced that such an effective mechanism is a direct dialogue with the so-called ‘local authorities’ of the temporarily occupied areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions. We are ready for a dialogue with the civilian population of these territories, but not with those who are not recognized in terms of international law and, therefore, cannot represent the local population of Ukraine,” Zelensky said in his speech at the Munich Security Conference, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

At the same time, he stressed that the “voice of Donbas” was also 1.5 million internally displaced persons who had been forced to leave their homes in Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

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