OREANDA-NEWS. Ukrainian military occupied an additional 24 square meters. km of the territory of Donbass, said on Thursday the commander of the Operation Combined Forces (OOS, military operation in the Donbass) Sergey Naev at the final briefing, arguing that this is not a violation of the Minsk agreements. "Throughout the year, thanks to carefully planned activities and decisive actions, without violating the Minsk agreements, the environmental protection policy was able to improve the tactical position in some areas at a distance of 2 to 5 km. The result was a return of about 24 sq. Km, including three inhabited points, "he said.

Among other things, Naev noted that during the environmental protection campaign (it began operating a year ago instead of the antiterrorist operation in the Donbass) "by joint actions of the National Guard and the National Police, 1,358 people were detained at stationary and mobile checkpoints, 415 of them were suspected of participating in illegal armed formations".

In accordance with the set of measures to implement the Minsk agreements, signed in February 2015, the parties to the conflict in Donbass were to withdraw all their heavy weapons in order to create a security zone. In September 2015, the participants of the contact group developed an addition to the complex of measures to create a 30-km buffer zone (gray zone) by diverting each side of the light weapons to 15 km from the demarcation line. The introduction of troops of one or another side into the settlements located in it is a violation of international agreements. The armed forces of Ukraine in the framework of the military operation in the Donbass have repeatedly reported on the occupation of new positions in the gray zone.

Earlier, it was reported that the security and defense adviser to the newly elected president of Ukraine, Vladimir Zelensky, Ivan Aparshin believes that Kiev will be able to return control of the Donbass in five years.