If the US is genuinely committed to resolving the conflict in Ukraine through diplomacy, it should abandon its plans to provide more arms to Kiev and focus on talks, the Russian Embassy in Washington, DC said on Wednesday.
In a statement posted on Facebook, the embassy suggested that American officials should instead focus on using their influence over Kiev to convince it to implement the Minsk agreement, a deal that saw a ceasefire implemented in east Ukraine in 2014.
The conflict in Donbass began after the events of the Maidan when violent street protests toppled a democratically elected government. This eventually led to the two self-proclaimed republics of Donetsk (DPR) and Lugansk (LPR) declaring independence, a move recognized by neither Moscow nor Kiev. Seven years after the Minsk Protocol that formally put a stop to the war, fighting is still ongoing, and the agreement is yet to be implemented.