European Solidarity Party leader and ex-President Petro Poroshenko has said the Minsk agreements made in the autumn of 2014 were decided at the NATO summit in Wales and helped stop Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“September 5… Soon it will be the five-year anniversary (of the Minsk agreements). They were not decided in Minsk. On September 5, 2014, they were decided in Cardiff, Wales. At the NATO summit in Cardiff, Wales. I am talking about this for the first time. It was a miracle. No one believed in us when I attended the NATO summit. No one thought we could sign an agreement and stop Russia’s invasion,” Poroshenko said in an interview published by the Kyiv-based Ukrayinska Pravda ezine on Thursday.
Poroshenko also explained the time gap for the launch of the Minsk agreements.
“Why did the Minsk agreements take effect not from 24.00 (midnight), or from 22.00, or from noon, but from 18.00? Do you know why? Because air-assault troops of the 95th and 79th (brigades) commanded by (Chief of the General Staff Viktor) Muzhenko and [95th Separate Air Assault Brigade Commander Mykhailo) Zabrodsky had to return from a combat mission.”
Poroshenko said that as of 18.00 they returned from across the contact line and “the Minsk agreements took effect.”
Speaking about the battles of Ilovaisk and Debaltseve, Poroshenko said, “There were only Russian soldiers there” and expressed anger that the withdrawal route of Ukrainian soldiers from the Debaltseve encirclement was shared on social media.
