Former Ukrainian President Yanukovich calls on Zelensky to stop bloodshed
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Yanukovich urges Zelensky to put aside his own pride and ambitions for the sake of saving people's lives.
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Former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich
Former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich has called on Volodymyr Zelensky to end the violence "at any cost" and reach a peace agreement.
"I understand very well that you have many 'advisers,' but personally you are obliged to stop the bloodshed at any cost and reach a peace agreement. This is expected of you in Ukraine, Donbass, and Russia. The Ukrainian people and your partners in the West will be grateful to you," Yanukovich said.
Yanukovich emphasized that he was forced to flee the country in 2014, which resulted in the new government launching a war in Donbass.
He added that the practices of the "nationalist battalions" caused 8 years of agony and 14,000 deaths.
“I want to appeal to Vladimir Zelensky in a presidential and even a little fatherly way. Vladimir Alexandrovich, you probably dream of becoming a real hero! But heroism is not ostentatious, it is not about fighting to the last Ukrainian. It is in self-sacrifice, in victory over one's own pride and ambitions for the sake of saving people's lives," Yanukovich added.
See more: Donetsk and Lugansk Republics
A color revolution
It is worth mentioning that Viktor Yanukovich was the president of Ukraine from 2010 to February 2014.
More than 100 people were killed in clashes on Kiev's central Maidan Nezalezhnosti square between November 31, 2013 and February 22, 2014. The unrest, which was led by the US-backed opposition and neo-Nazi paramilitary groups, resulted in Yanukovich's ousting, forcing him to flee to Russia.
Following the parliamentary removal of Yanukovych's government, the open US meddling in Ukraine became even more visible.
The so-called "anti-terrorist operation" (ATO) in eastern Ukraine, which Yanukovich harshly criticized, was launched in 2014 by new Kiev authorities against Donbass, after local residents of the region refused to recognize the new Ukrainian authorities, viewing the power change as a coup.
After talks brokered by the leaders of the so-called Normandy Format, conflicting sides signed a ceasefire agreement in Minsk in 2015. (Russia, France, Germany, and Ukraine). Despite the ceasefire agreement, there has been sporadic fighting in Donbass.
Russia's military operation
In the midst of Russia's ongoing military operation in Ukraine, Russian and Ukrainian negotiators held the third round of peace talks on Monday in the Belarusian city of Brest, near the Polish border. The discussions lasted nearly three hours. Monday's talks came after two previous rounds of talks, both of which took place on Belarusian territory.
On February 24, Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine in response to Donetsk and Lugansk people's republics' (DPR and LPR) calls to defend themselves against intensifying attacks by Ukrainian troops. The goal of Moscow's special operation, according to Moscow, is to demilitarize and "de-Nazify" Ukraine.
At the time, Russian President Vladimir Putin affirmed the goal of the operation was the "protection of people who have been subjected to bullying and genocide by the Kiev regime for eight years."
According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, high-precision strikes are being conducted only against Ukrainian military infrastructure, with no threat to civilians.
On Saturday, Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that Russia had immediately responded to Kiev's request to open humanitarian corridors and declared a ceasefire to ensure safe evacuation, but the Russian Defense Ministry stated that the Ukrainian side had once again used civilians as human shields.
