Law on special status of Donbas should be extended for one year – Zelensky

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that the Law of Ukraine on peculiarities of local self-government in certain areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions should be extended for another year and then the "Steinmeier formula" can be implemented.
The head of the Ukrainian state said this at a meeting with representatives of the Ukrainian media following a Normandy Four meeting in Paris, according to an Ukrinform correspondent.

“This is a very complicated technical solution. It is easier for us now to extend this law [on peculiarities of local self-government in certain areas of Donbas] and then introduce the Steinmeier formula, seeing certain steps on that part that we are approaching de-escalation, rather than to wait until the law expires... Therefore, I think we should extend,” Zelensky said.

In this context, he added that according to the Minsk agreements, the new bill on special status should be agreed with all parties of the Trilateral Contact Group.

Zelensky also said that when discussing this issue at the meeting of the leaders of the Normandy countries he was asked why the law should be extended for one year, not five or ten years.

"I answered honestly that we don’t know what could happen in five or ten years, while one year is a good option," Zelensky summed up.

As Ukrinform reported, the meeting of the leaders of the Normandy Four countries took place in Paris on December 9. The meeting was attended by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Russian President Vladimir Putin, French President Emmanuel Macron, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.