The United States will not demand that Kyiv hold elections in individual districts of Donetsk and Luhansk regions until there is a full ceasefire, U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt said in an interview published by the magazine Novoye Vremya on Friday.

The best Ukraine can do now is fulfill its part of the Minsk agreements and prove that it is not an impediment to that deal, the ambassador said, adding that Washington will not demand that Ukraine hold elections in the uncontrolled territories as long as Ukrainian soldiers are dying along the contact line.

Pyatt said the message was crystal clear: a full ceasefire must happen before elections.

He said that the most important part of Mink peace deal is the implementation of the principle that Donbas is the territory of Ukraine.

The ambassador said that the internationally recognized borders of Ukraine are to be restored. Russia is the side of the conflict, Russian equipment and troops are to leave the Ukrainian territory. The key efforts of diplomats are aimed at implementing these clear conditions. He said that these are good conditions for Ukraine, and it is important to understand that this is not the format when each side chooses only the part of the deal that suits it. The sense of the deal is to implement all the provisions, he said. Russia leaves, you lock the borders and start building your state, Pyatt said.

He also said that the U.S. will continue supporting the Ukrainian government until it proves efficiency of reforms by its work.

Asked what the most difficult issue to explain about Ukraine and Ukrainians in Washington was, he said that it was why reforms in Ukraine are not as quick as it should be and why oligarchs remain in power and why despite strong desire of Ukrainians to combat corruption it still exists.