Control Over Ceasefire In Donbas Must Be Tightened - Russian Envoy To Contact Group

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 15th May, 2020) It is necessary to tighten control over the ceasefire in Donbas, Boris Gryzlov, Russia's representative in the Trilateral Contact Group to resolve the situation in Ukraine, said on Thursday.

"At the meeting of the contact group, it was noted that the security situation along the contact line remains extremely difficult. Kiev actually encourages shelling of civilian facilities by the Ukrainian Armed Forces," he said after the contact group's meeting.

According to Gryzlov, it is the Kiev side that violates the ceasefire, and it "refuses to take specific additional ceasefire control measures."

"Among the proposed measures are the refusal to conduct offensive, reconnaissance and sabotage operations; the non-use of any type of fire, including sniper fire; the obligation not to deploy heavy weapons in settlements and close to settlements, primarily at civilian infrastructure; as well as the use of strict disciplinary measures against ceasefire violators," he added.

Kiev again abandons plans for the disengagement of troops in Donbas, Gryzlov said.

"At the Normandy Four summit, Kiev insisted on a limited number of areas instead of disengagement of troops and weapons along the entire contact line. But then it blocked the implementation of this decision," he said.

Residents of Donetsk and Luhansk see the current Kiev government less and less different from the previous one, Gryzlov said.

He cited data from the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine, according to which all new civilian casualties are residents of certain districts of Donetsk and Luhansk regions.