Pro-Russian forces plan to "retake towns"

Pro-Russian forces plan to "retake towns"

"We will retake Slaviansk, Kramatorsk and Mariupol. Unfortunately, it was impossible to make peaceful settlement the focus of negotiations. We are the only ones who comply with the regime of silence," he stressed.

Earlier this week, Zakharchenko said the heavy shelling of Donetsk carried out by the Ukrainian government forces was undermining the negotiating process between Kiev and the DNR.

"No more talks about ceasefire, of course we are not going to sit (at the negotiating table) with Kiev," he said on Monday.

The DNR authorities on several occasions stressed their territory would never become "part of a united Ukraine," and last week announced plans to start issuing DNR passports.

According to the UN, some 3,700 people died in eastern Ukraine since April, while more than 9,000 have been injured.

The two sides agreed to a ceasefire on September 5, but Donetsk was shelled on several occasions since then.