A senior Kremlin official has said Russian police and National Guard units will continue to operate in eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region even if a peace agreement brings an end to the nearly four-year-long war — a condition Ukraine is widely expected to reject.
Kremlin adviser Yuri Ushakov said Moscow would agree to a ceasefire only after Ukrainian troops withdraw from the front line. Speaking to Kommersant on Friday, Ushakov suggested that a postwar arrangement could see the absence of regular military forces from both sides in Donbas.
“It is entirely possible that there will be no troops there — neither Russian nor Ukrainian,” he said. However, he made it clear that Russian security presence would remain. “There will be the National Guard, our police, and everything necessary to maintain order and organise life,” Ushakov added.
The remarks underline Moscow’s insistence on retaining control over the strategically important and industrially vital Donbas region, a stance likely to complicate any future peace negotiations with Kyiv.
