Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba in response to the statement by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov about the lack of progress in the implementation of the Minsk agreements has recalled that the Minsk agreements signed by the Russian Federation in 2014 confirm its status as a party to the conflict.

"I am especially offended to read these words of Minister Lavrov right now, when Ukraine is making more than ever efforts to resolve the conflict, bring peace, de-occupy its territories in Donetsk and Luhansk regions," Kuleba said on Facebook on Thursday evening.

He noted that Moscow is trying once again to launch a "worn-out record," that Russia is not in Donbas and that Ukraine does not want to fulfill the Minsk agreements.

The minister stressed that during the war in Donbas, Russia:

- signed all the Minsk agreements from 2014 to the present day, confirming Russia's status as a party to the conflict,

- "stuffed" occupied areas in Donbas with Russian weapons, in particular new and experimental ones, which are used on Ukrainian soil as at an army training ground,

- carried out artillery shelling of Ukrainian territory from Russian territory and attracted regular units of the Russian army to military operations in Ukraine,

- shot down a passenger airliner MH17 from a Russian Buk missile launcher,

- introduced the Russian ruble, which covered all spheres of life in the uncontrolled territories,

- issued Russian passports to Ukrainians living in occupied areas,

- introduced Russian educational programs that brainwash the children of Ukrainians,

- introduced the Russian taxation system and many other things, which, with perseverance deserving better use, are being used by Moscow in the temporarily occupied territories of the Ukrainians of Donbas,

- captured industrial enterprises in 2017 and plundered and removed industrial facilities of the majestic industrial giants of Donbas,

- withdrew its personnel from the Joint Center for Control and Coordination (JCCC), jeopardizing the practical support of the ceasefire,

- blocks the implementation of agreements already reached within the Trilateral Contact Group (TCG) on new areas for demining and disengagement of forces and equipment, as well as the release of detainees;

- creates systemic obstacles for the OSCE SMM and international humanitarian organizations, in particular the International Committee of the Red Cross, to fulfill their mandates in the conflict zone;

- and uses the language of outright threats and outright blackmail in the process of peaceful settlement.