At the meeting of the Contact Group, the republics insisted on addressing the priority task with regard to security issues, particularly approving the package of additional measures for the enhancement and monitoring of the indefinite ceasefire that has been in force since July 21, 2019, which the working subgroup was unable to do previously.
“We reminded the Ukrainian party why the full alert status has been introduced. This decision was taken because since March 14, 2020, when the first civilian victim was registered in our territory this year, the armed forces of Ukraine have fired over 10 thousand munitions on residential areas and civilian infrastructure. These barbaric attacks claimed the lives of four innocent people and wounded 22 civilians, five of whom are minors.
Such mass tragic consequences have not occurred for a long time. That is why our units are put on full alert in order to be able to respond adequately to the AFU aggression.
Our main goal is to achieve an effective, complete and comprehensive ceasefire. We would like to stop agreeing on some additional ceasefire intervals, but we want a complete ceasefire, so that our people may breathe a sigh of relief and live without fearing for their lives and health.
The only peaceful and effective way to achieve this goal at the moment is to approve and sign the much-needed package of additional measures of tight control over the ceasefire as soon as possible,” Natalya Nikonorova commented on the Contact Group’s meeting with regard to security
In this regard, the DPR plenipotentiary suggested the Contact Group focusing on negotiating each measure article by article, taking into account the measures already agreed upon and without ruling anything out at the same time. It is necessary to follow the path of strengthening, for example, add to the existing list those measures that the experience has dictated, in particular, establish a channel of communication for direct interaction between authorized persons.
“However, the Ukrainian side, to everyone’s perplexity, once again has managed to find most incredible excuses not to approve and sign the list of measures,” Natalya Nikonorova summarized.