The mayor of Donetsk left the city due to threats of militias

Mayor Alexander Lukyanchenko rejected the conditions of the authorities of the self -proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic and left the city on July 11 in connection with the threat of life. The mayor said this in a video message to the residents of Donetsk.

“They demanded that I do not ensure the life of the townspeople, but to provide for the military needs of the DPR, including to the detriment of residents. All this time I tried to establish a dialogue for the peaceful resolution of the conflict. However, I was directly stated that peaceful initiatives are not interested in military DPR. I do not accept the ultimatum put forward by me, ”said Lukyanchenko.

According to the Donetsk mayor, if the ultimatum is not accepted, he is threatened with physical elimination, so he cannot remain in the city.

Now Lukyanchenko remains in Kyiv and plans to defend the interests of Donetsk from there, promising at the first opportunity to return to the city. The mayor also added that it remains on constant connection with all departments of the urban economy and hopes that the military DPR will leave the city structures the opportunity to maintain the work of these units.

On July 10, the leaders of the self-proclaimed DPR Alexander Borodai and Igor Strelkov gave a press conference , at which they confirmed the fact of the conversation between Lukyanchenko and Strelkov, not counting, however, the proposed conditions of the ultimatum. Borodai told reporters that Lukyanchenko would remain mayor only if he agreed to “tightly and efficiently” to cooperate with the authorities of the DPR. According to Boroday, Lukyanchenko is a good business executive, but the current mayor of the city should support the position of "those who are defended there."

In the event that Lukyanchenko “will continue to play politics, offer us negotiations, mediation in the negotiation process that he did many times,” then another person will be approved in his place, ”said Borodai. According to him, other candidates for the mayor’s post are already being considered: “This, first of all, should be a business executive loyal to the authorities of the DPR.” Lukyanchenko’s attempts to organize negotiations between militias with Kyiv by the prime miners of the republic criticized. “Is he mayor, business executive or politician? We, as a politician and intermediary, in our relations in quotation marks with Kiev, relations that are not, do not consider, ”said Borodai. At the same time, he denied a possible threat to the mayor’s life in case of refusal of cooperation: “He will have to leave, but to leave - this does not mean to be shot”

Over the past two weeks, Lukyanchenko has met with President of Ukraine Peter Poroshenko twice. During the meetings, the mayor tried to agree on the settlement of the conflict in the east of Ukraine.