Negotiators from Ukraine, Russia and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) have agreed to restore a ceasefire between government forces in eastern Ukraine and Russian-backed separatists, OSCE said on Wednesday, REUTERS reports.
“I was delighted that participants expressed their strong determination to fully adhere to the Measures to Strengthen the Ceasefire agreement of 22 July 2020,” the Special Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office in Ukraine and in the Trilateral Contact Group (TCG), Ambassador Mikko Kinnunen said in a statement.
He said that according to the reports of the Special Monitoring Mission, the security situation on the contact line was unstable and in December 2021, compared to December 2020, there were about five times more ceasefire violations per day.
A previous ceasefire agreement was signed in July 2020. In recent months, Kyiv and Moscow have often accused each other of violating this agreement.
“This (new agreement) is of utmost significance for the people living on both sides of the contact line,” Kinnunen said.
The security situation along the contact line between Ukrainian forces and separatist groups “remains volatile,” said the OSCE chief.
The conflict in the Donbass began in 2014 after the so-called Euromaidan protests toppled Viktor Yanukovych’s pro-Russian government and the Donetsk People’s Republic and Luhansk People’s Republic declared their independence from Ukraine, around the same time that Russia annexed Crimea.
Source: Copyright 2021 Thomson Reuters
