Kiev continues to escalate the situation on the contact line: the statements of the Ukrainian authorities about their commitment to a peaceful settlement of the conflict in Donbass run counter to their real behavior, DPR Plenipotentiary and Foreign Minister Natalia Nikonorova stated.
«Despite the earlier reached agreements on an indefinite ceasefire and on measures to strengthen it, the armed formations of Ukraine continue to increase shelling of residential areas of the republic’s settlements, including with the use of mortars and tanks prohibited by the Minsk agreements.
In recent days, there has been an increase in shelling of civilian objects from the Ukrainian side, the OSCE SMM reports the presence of equipment located near residential buildings and municipal facilities in the territory controlled by Ukraine with violations of the withdrawal line. In addition, representatives of the AFU were seen in the areas of the disengagement areas, which contradicts not only the whole essence of the disengagement process, but also the agreements reached within the Contact Group,» Nikonorova noted.
The Plenipotentiary also focused on the fact that Ukrainian units continue to use terrorist methods and shell peaceful settlements, grossly violating both the documents of the Minsk package and international humanitarian law.
«At the upcoming meeting of the Contact Group, we intend to raise, in the presence of the negotiating process mediators, the OSCE and the Russian Federation, the recorded facts of Kiev’s violation of the ceasefire regime and demand immediate steps to stabilize the situation: first of all, to specify the modalities of the work of the coordination mechanism for the JCCC interaction in the current in order to prevent and verify violations,» Natalia Nikonorova emphasized.
