The Ukrainian party’s foiled mine clearance in Petrovskoye — Ruslan Yakubov

Today, on November 19, demining activities were to be completed in the area of ​​Petrovskoye locality, Head of the DPR Representative Office to the JCCC Ruslan Yakubov stated.

“Tomorrow, on November 20, we must notify the OSCE Mission of the completion of the mine clearance process in the Petrovskoye area. As far as we know, the Ukrainian party is still carrying out these works. They occupied most of the area, therefore, their scope of work is greater. In the seven days allocated, we cleared of mines more than three thousand square meters, destroyed munitions of various types, including anti-tank and anti-personnel mines, as well as unexploded ordnances. Upon the notification of the end of mine clearance according to the plan, we must proceed to simultaneous dismantling of the fortifications in the disengagement area,” Ruslan Yakubov said.

He also emphasized that DPR representatives to the JCCC recorded violations of the ceasefire by the Ukrainian party on the mine clearance site. An official letter pointing to these facts has already been sent to the OSCE SMM.

“Violations are recorded at night, when there are no OSCE Mission monitors present, small arms are used at that. I regard these actions as provocative. The units of the DPR People’s Militia do not open return fire and follow the silence regime,” the Head of the DPR Representative Office to the JCCC said.

To date, a message has arrived from the DPR Representative Office to the JCCC on the demining process in the Petrovskoye area having been disrupted by the Ukrainian party.

“Today at 12:35 during the activities for mine clearance, the armed formations of Ukraine opened fire towards Petrovskoye from the positions located directly in the zone of forces and hardware disengagement pledged by the Ukrainian party and recorded by the SMM as withdrawn in the reports of November 13 and 14.

Notably, today, according to the scheduled plan, the activities for mine clearance were planned to be continued on the forces and hardware disengagement site No. 3 Petrovskoye-Bogdanovka.

At the moment, demining efforts have been thwarted, and representatives of the JCCC and the Ministry of Emergencies were forced to cease activities and leave the site for security reasons.

The Head of the DPR Representative Office to the JCCC recorded this fact and notified the OSCE SMM patrol present at the observation point,” the report says.