What did Kyiv say about the Donbas votes by 14 November 2018?
A look back at the diplomatic reaction to the 11 November 2018 ballots in occupied Donbas, and a parliamentary resolution passed days earlier.
How had Ukraine and its partners responded by 14 November 2018 to the elections held in the self-proclaimed DNR and LNR three days earlier?
The vote took place on 11 November 2018. The European Union, the United States and Japan declared that holding it violated the Minsk agreements. Germany and France went further and described the elections as illegal.
Ukraine's Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that Kyiv would not recognise the vote. The position was thus aligned with that of the partners named above: the ballots stood outside the Minsk framework and carried no recognition from Ukraine.
A parliamentary resolution
The diplomatic reaction was not the only political business of that week. On 8 November 2018 the Verkhovna Rada adopted a resolution on marking at state level the 75th anniversary of the start of the deportation of Ukrainians from Poland, which took place in 1944–1951.
Together, the two items show a mix of foreign-policy firmness and historical commemoration in the days leading up to 14 November 2018.
