One month has passed since the introduction of the Additional Measures the parties signed to enhance the indefinite ceasefire regime, which has been in force since July 21, 2019. The most important achievement of this was the 30 quietest days for all the six years of hostilities. No civilians, no residential buildings and no civilian infrastructure were affected by attacks of the armed forces of Ukraine, Head of the Republic Denis Pushilin stated on August 28, the press service of the Administration of the Head of the DPR reports.
He emphasized that it is a positive signal, but reminded that Ukraine has undertaken the commitments to cease fire completely at the level of international agreements more than five years ago, and if they had fulfilled them, there would not have been such a number of victims, destruction and other tragic consequences in Donbass.
“At the same time, throughout the whole month, our JCCC monitors have been registering violations of the agreed Additional Measures by the armed forces of Ukraine, namely the ban on additional position hardening, the ban on the use of unmanned aerial vehicles, as well as the ban on the deployment of heavy weapons in populated localities and their surroundings.
The positional violations of the AFU near Shumy, where the enemy is bringing its fortifications (trenches) closer to the arch of the Seversky Donets-Donbass with the clear intention to strengthen its presence under it, as well as in the pilot disengagement area near Petrovskoye, where the OSCE SMM registered a new cover that was built after the entry-into-force of the Additional Measures at the former position of the armed forces of Ukraine are of particular concern,” Denis Pushilin said.
The Head of the Republic noted that this issue could not be resolved at the last meeting of the Contact Group.
“Therefore, I should warn that the Ukrainian side must take action to eliminate the violations in the coming days and no later than September 3, 2020, to return the position of the troops and fortifications to the coordinates of July 22, 2020. A corresponding act about that must be drawn up at the JCCC (with the approval of the OSCE SMM, when they agree). If no such act is provided to me by 10 p.m. on September 3, 2020, I will have to resort to the last extreme measure and, in accordance with clause (e) of the Additional Measures, in order to prevent further offensive operations of Ukraine in terms of bringing its positions and fortifications closer to our side, I will have to issue a corresponding order to People’s Militia units to destroy trenches and covers of the AFU retrofitted or newly built after the signing of the Additional Ceasefire Enhancement Measures on July 22, 2020,” Denis Pushilin stated.
