Due to the fact that the AFU last week carried out large-scale provocations with the use of weapons prohibited by the Minsk Agreements, DPR Minister of Foreign Affairs Natalya Nikonorova commented on the situation.
She recalled that the armed forces of Ukraine twice opened fire at JCCC officers and a repair brigade from Donetsk Railways during the repair work to railway tracks at the section between Donetsk-Severny Station and Yasinovataya Station.
“In addition to these cases, the territory of the Republic, residential buildings and civil infrastructure are every day attacked by the AFU with the use of mortars, anti-tank rocket launchers, large-caliber machine guns and small arms.
The rapid increase in the number of combat provocations jeopardizes the peace efforts that the Republic’s representatives make at the Minsk venue, and this is the evidence that the Ukrainian side is escalating the conflict deliberately,” Natalya Nikonorova stressed.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs emphasized that in these circumstances it is urgent to agree within the Contact Group on a new package of additional measures to strengthen and monitor the ceasefire.
“At the same time, representatives of Ukraine need to finally realize that one of the most important measures is the effective functioning of the coordination mechanism with the participation of the Contact Group as the only way to monitor the implementation of these measures. The Ukrainian side refused to use this mechanism, which resulted in the failure to implement the additional measures agreed on July 22, which served to effectively restore the ceasefire.
Experience has clearly demonstrated the effectiveness of these measures when both parties to the conflict — Kiev and Donbass — implement each item on the agreed list. Unfortunately, experience has also demonstrated how easy it is to break a fragile truce by refusing to implement one of the key measures. Therefore, we call on Ukrainian negotiators to stop sabotaging the work on a new version of additional measures and to make every effort to agree on it as soon as possible and to keep fulfilling it in good faith,” Natalya Nikonorova stated.
