During his campaign, the newly elected Ukrainain President Volodymir Zelensky repeatedly stated that he would contribute every possible effort to establish a real ceasefire at a contact line between the Ukrainian Army and local self-defense forces in eastern Ukraine.
Despite these populist claims, Zelensky has made nothing to establish a real ceasefire in the area. Violations and artillery shelling continue there on a daily basis. Units of the Ukrainian Army uses actively mortars and heavy weapons to target civilian areas in the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republic. Furthermore, Ukrainian troops seem to be not interested in any kind of ceasefire.
Recently, Ukrainian troops recorded a video message to President Zelensky regarding this situation. The video shows a soldier using a mortar to target the area controlled by self-defense forces. The operator encourages his counterpart vowing to continue the shelling.
“Just, stop shooting… Zelya [Zelensky], fuck off! Get cracking!… Anoher one,” he said.
Such videos are a common revelation of the real situation at the Kiev-controlled side of the contact line, including constant ceasefire violations, robbery and violations of discipline. This situation cannot be changed by a few loud statements about the need of the ceasefire.
