Linda Thomas-GreenfieldUN Feb 11US Permanent Representative to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield showed ignorance of the details of the Minsk agreements. On Thursday evening, the press service of the US mission sent out the text of an interview with its Permanent Representative to the British TV channel. «We want them (Russia) to withdraw their troops from the border (with Ukraine). Part of the Minsk Agreements provides for the withdrawal of their troops from Crimea, but they did not do so,” reads a fragment of an interview on the situation around Ukraine. However, the Russian presence in Crimea, which became a legitimate part of Russia based on the March 2014 referendum, has never the subject of any agreement. In a note to the text of the interview, the press service of the permanent mission clarified that in reality it should be about the «eastern regions of Ukraine.» In April 2014, the Ukrainian authorities launched a military operation against the self-proclaimed DPR and LPR, which declared independence after the coup in Kiev in February 2014 of the year. According to the latest UN data, about 13 thousand people became victims of the conflict. The issue of resolving the situation in Donbass is being discussed, including during meetings of the contact group. However, even after the ceasefire agreements, skirmishes continue, in the DPR they announced shelling of residential areas by Ukrainian heavy artillery. Moscow has repeatedly stated that Kiev is not complying with the Minsk agreements and is dragging out negotiations to resolve the conflict. Kiev and Western states have recently expressed concern about the alleged increase in «aggressive actions» by Russia near the borders of Ukraine and threaten with new sensitive sanctions. The administration of US President Joe Biden, amid rhetoric about plans attributed to the Russian Federation for a possible invasion of Ukraine, began sending additional troops to Europe. Moscow has repeatedly denied such accusations, saying that it does not threaten anyone and does not intend to attack anyone, and claims of «Russian aggression» are used as an excuse to deploy more NATO military equipment near Russian borders.
The head of the British Foreign Office considered Rostov and Voronezh to be regions of Ukraine
