UPDATE - Contact Group On Ukraine Fails To Agree On Easter Truce In Donbas - DPR Foreign Ministry

UPDATE - Contact Group on Ukraine Fails to Agree on Easter Truce in Donbas - DPR Foreign Ministry

DONETSK (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 19th April, 2019) The Trilateral Contact Group (TCG) on the conflict in Ukraine's eastern Donbas region has failed to agree on the so-called Easter ceasefire in the area, the Foreign Ministry of the self-proclaimed People's Republic of Donetsk (DPR) has said.

"For the first time in the course of the Minsk talks, Kiev has created a precedent of not agreeing on a truce ahead of holiday dates," the DPR Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Thursday.

The ministry argued that during the talks, held via video link-up, the Ukrainian authorities ignored the efforts of other sides to negotiate a ceasefire by refusing to discuss additional measures to monitor the implementation of the truce that must be included in the Contact Group's statements on the resumption of the sides' obligations on the ceasefire implementation.

Vladislav Deinego, the foreign minister of the self-proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic (LPR), noted that Kiev did not support the additional measures aimed at ensuring the continued ceasefire, which were suggested by Martin Sajdik, the special representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office in Ukraine and in TCG.

The DPR Foreign Ministry expressed hope that the Easter ceasefire would be agreed upon at the upcoming talks, scheduled for the next Wednesday.

Last week, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko argued that the Easter truce should begin in Donbas on April 18.

Boris Gryzlov, the Russian envoy to the Contact Group on Ukraine, on Thursday, called Kiev's statements about its willingness to reach a truce "lip service."

"Kiev is practically refusing to hold talks with Donbas [republics] with which it should be engaged in direct talks ... Unfortunately, the discussion yielded no results. Kiev has refused to accept additional measures to strengthen ceasefire which are aimed at ensuring strong security and the transfer to the political settlement. The suggestions of Donetsk and Luhansk which have been supported by Russia and have earlier been backed by the OSCE, have been rejected [by Ukraine]," the Russian official argued.

Gryzlov added that the Ukrainian military continued shelling Donbas, including civilian residential areas of the region.

The conflict in Donbas started in 2014 when Kiev launched a military operation against the DPR and the LPR after they refused to recognize the new government in Kiev that came to power after what they considered to be a coup. In February 2015, the warring parties signed the Minsk peace accords to end the hostilities in the region, but the situation has remained tense, with both parties accusing each other of ceasefire violations.