Ukraine's envoy to Trilateral Contact Group sees no conditions for elections in Donbas

13:46, 06.05.2016 1 min read

Ukraine's representative to the Trilateral Contact Group, Leonid Kuchma, has once again spoken of the impossibility of holding elections in Donbas districts not controlled by Kyiv until the Minsk agreements are implemented.

"At the last session of the Trilateral Contact Group, I said that until the whole bloc of security [issues] was resolved, it was necessary to even halt any discussions on any elections, on any political reform... First, it is necessary to fulfill the points set out in the Minsk protocol and only after this think about the elections," Kuchma told reporters in Kyiv on Friday.

The elections cannot be held in Donbas as long as the "40,000-strong army" is present there and until control over the sector of the border with Russia is returned to Ukraine, he said.

"There should be no discussions on any elections until the Ukrainian authorities come there, until Ukraine controls the border," Kuchma said.