OSCE Special
Representative Martin Sajdik has addressed the sides of the conflict urging
them to support the decision on the top political level
MOSCOW, August 29.
/TASS/. A new ceasefire has come into force in Donbass at 00:01 a.m. on
Wednesday as agreed on August 22 in Minsk by the Contact Group participants who
issued an official statement on ceasefire on the contact line ahead of the new
school year. OSCE Special Representative Martin Sajdik has addressed the sides
of the conflict urging them to support the decision on the top political level.
A harvest ceasefire
had been in force in Donbass starting July 1. That agreement improved security
in the region. Sajdik has noted that the summer of 2018 has been the calmest
one since the beginning of the conflict. Russian envoy to the Contact Group
Boris Gryzlov has also mentioned that this summer has seen the fewest number of
victims among civilians in all four years of the conflict in Ukraine.
Meanwhile, Gryzlov
stressed that the Contact Group had pointed to the need to implement the
earlier reached agreements on disengagement of military equipment and personnel
to the coordinated upon sections. He also said that no shelling had been
reported in the area of Stanitsa Luganskaya since July 24, though the Ukrainian
side has failed to take any action to disengage forces. According to Gryzlov,
due to the activity of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the disengagement areas
Zolotoye and Petrovskoye, combat positions of the sides in the conflict are now
closer to each other than before the disengagement.
The ceasefire
declared by the Contact Group is the 21st attempt to stop hostilities in the
region since the beginning of the Donbass conflict.
Source: ITAR-TASS
29-08-2018
