LPR militia to participate in demilitarization of Ukraine - Pasechnik

Lugansk People’s Republic militia units will take part in the operation aimed at denazification and demilitarization of Ukraine, upon completion of the liberation of the Republic’s territory from Kiev forces, LPR Head Leonid Pasechnik said on Russia’s First Channel.

“Certainly, I believe (LPR militia units will participate in the operation to denazify and demilitarize Ukraine, after liberating the Republic’s territory from Kiev forces) because it is our land and our people, it’s our Ukraine whose population is a hostage of the terrorist, nationalistic and fascist regime which currently rules in Kiev,” Pasechnik said adding that “We must help our people.”

“This land is drenched with the blood of our grandfathers and great-grandfathers and our ancestors who had fought and defended this land not only during the Great Patriotic War but also much earlier,” he said.

"This land is imbued with our centuries-old history, we have no right to let the boots of Americans, Brits or NATO forces trample upon this land. It is our Russian land.  Of course, we’ll certainly help brotherly Russians and all other ethnic groups that are taking part in the special operation, in the liberation of our land from the fascism which dominates there today,” the LPR leader said.

On February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a special military operation in Donbass to protect residents of the region from Ukrainian aggression and called on Ukrainian troops to leave the combat zone. Earlier, the Heads of the Lugansk and Donetsk People’s Republics, Leonid Pasechnik and Denis Pushilin, requested the Russian president to provide military assistance. LPR militiamen had liberated 54 Kiev-held settlements of the Republic by the morning of March 6.

The Ukrainian government launched the so-called anti-terrorist operation against Donbass in April 2014.  The members of the Contact Group have announced ceasefire more than 20 times since the autumn of 2014. Kiev forces regularly violated the truce opening fire with large caliber artillery, mortars and tank guns which were to have been withdrawn from the contact line under the accords. *i*s