Intensification of fighting in Debaltseve was predictable - Putin
BUDAPEST. Feb 17 (Interfax) - The intensification of the fighting near Debaltseve was predictable, as a large number of Ukrainian government troops have been trapped there, Russian President Vladimir Putin said.
"It is an absolutely obvious fact now. The intensity of the shelling and reciprocal strikes along the entire line of contact has dropped dramatically. It is true there have been clashes near Debaltseve, though," Putin said at a press conference in Budapest on Tuesday.
"By the way, the number of strikes is not as large as it was before. But what is happening there is understandable and predictable, because, according to our information, even before the meeting in Minsk, about a week ahead of it, a unit of Ukrainian forces had been encircled," he said.
"It's precisely what I said at the meeting in Minsk: those who had been encircled would be trying to break out, and attempts would also be made from the outside to unblock them," he said.
As for the militia "who are holding the Ukrainian forces inside this trap, they would be resisting to keep holding them longer," Putin said.
"This would inevitably produce these clashes for some time, this or that way. The Ukrainian armed forces again attempted to unblock this pocket this morning. It ended unsuccessfully, and I do expect that officials in the Ukrainian leadership won't prevent Ukrainian army servicemen from laying down their arms. If they [the political leadership] are unable to make this important decision themselves, they at least shouldn't persecute the people who would like to save their lives and lay down their arms," he said.
"On the other hand, I expect that the militia leaders, the leadership of the DPR and LPR [the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk people's republics], won't hold these people and won't prevent them from freely leaving the conflict area and returning to their families after that," he said.