OREANDA-NEWS. The head of the US diplomatic mission in the Russian Federation, John Huntsman, believes that under the President of Ukraine, Vladimir Zelensky, there was hope for a solution to the problem of Donbass. The ambassador, who is retiring in October, expressed this opinion in an interview with the Russian business newspaper, published on Monday on the website of the publication.

"Under President Zelensky, there was a feeling of hope that the time was right to solve the problem of Donbass and a number of others, which caused a lot of trouble to both countries", he said. The diplomat noted that, despite the difficult relations between the Russian Federation and the USA in the last two years, Moscow and Washington managed to open new channels for communication. "There was no interaction at all. Due to a large number of very different reasons. And this after many years of very limited communication. I was very glad that we opened new channels for communication in areas where there are common interests", he stressed.

Huntsman also spoke about the work of high-level negotiators and special representatives working on issues of the DPRK, Afghanistan and Syria. According to him, in these areas, the United States and Russia should work together to achieve regional peace and stability. “And finally, arms control is probably the most important issue in relations, because both countries account for 90% of the world's nuclear weapons. And for both countries it's a huge responsibility: to continue discussions on security issues, reduce and make transparency so destructive weapons”, the ambassador added.

The armed conflict in the Donbass has been going on for the sixth year. Since May 2014, when Petro Poroshenko won the presidential election, the Ukrainian authorities promised to end the war, if not "in a matter of hours", then at least next year. However, things are still there. Zelensky, unlike Poroshenko, was not scattered with unrealistic promises, but admitted that it took time to solve the problem.