OSCE Official Urges All Sides In Ukrainian Civil Conflict To Uphold New Ceasefire

Miroslav Lajcak, the chairperson-in-office of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), urged all sides in the Ukrainian civil conflict to uphold the recently agreed upon ceasefire

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 18th July, 2019) Miroslav Lajcak, the chairperson-in-office of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), urged all sides in the Ukrainian civil conflict to uphold the recently agreed upon ceasefire.

On July 17, during the meeting of the Trilateral Contact Group in Minsk, the participants agreed to a ceasefire, which will begin on July 21.

"A meaningful ceasefire needs to be permanent and irreversible. I urge all sides to live up to their commitments, and finally establish a comprehensive, sustainable and unlimited ceasefire, which can open the door for the peaceful resolution of the conflict," Lajcak said in a published statement.

Since April 2014 the Ukrainian government has been conducting a military operation against the self- declared republics of Donetsk and Luhansk, which had declared their independence in February 2014. Many attempts to settle the crisis have been undertaken within diverse diplomatic formats, with only the Trilateral Contact Group being able to achieve some sort of positive result.