Jun 16, 2015

Zakharchenko: “Ukraine as a state has outlived itself”

by Systematic

Head of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic Alexander Zakharchenko leaves a meeting with locals in Donetsk yesterday [June 15] Photo: Reuters

[…] – Is Novorossiya possible in the composition of Ukraine?

— No. I am puzzled by the ability of journalists to snatch quotes out of their context. It is evident that there are politicians who are entitled to certain statements and those, who are not entitled to any. I will not tell you whether I am entitled to anything. I will say the following: I do not see either myself or my side of the conflict in the composition of Ukraine, as well as in the composition of any other country. I see us as equal partners. Yes, I see us as good neigbors or simply neigbors. Yes, I see Novorossiya as a strong state, but I do not see Novorossiya in the composition of Ukraine. That is, Novorossiya can exist as a transformed Ukraine. It surely can. I am one hundred per cent sure that what had happened in Donetsk can at any moment burst out in Odessa, Kiev, Kharkov, Mukachevo [Transcarpathian region of Ukraine]. They have already proclaimed themselves the Mikachevo People’s Republic. Pay attention to what is going on in Lviv. The way we will communicate with these republics, the agreements we will make with them are a matter for the future. Nevertheless, sooner or later it will happen. Ukraine as a state has outlived itself, and this became clear after the first air raids on Donetsk and Lugansk. Everything that followed was the agony of the statehood. A new state is being born right now – a fruit of this agony, of this death of the old system. What it will be like depends on us only. However, by that moment we should be ready; we should have a strong army, well trained and hardened in battles. […]

Read Aleksandr Zakharchenko’s interview to Darina Yevtushenko in full at Truth about situation in Ukraine.