Kiev blocks statement on unconditional implementation of Measures to Reinforce Ceasefire

Ukraine has blocked the adoption of Donbass-proposed statement on mechanisms of guarantees of an unconditional implementation of the Measures to Reinforce the Ceasefire, the LPR Foreign Minister Vladislav Deinego said.

He noted that "Ukraine did not support the new proposal of the Republics to de-escalate the conflict."

 "As part of the work of the Contact Group on security issues, Ukraine's position has not changed. As before, the adoption of a statement on mechanisms to ensure the unconditional implementation of Measures to Reinforce the Ceasefire was blocked by Kiev, which continued to refuse to take into account the principled positions we had outlined earlier," the minister said.

Obviously, he added, it is impossible to agree on a formalized statement of the Contact Group under such conditions.

"However, the main goal of the Republics is not to issue statements "to make it look nice", but to take real steps to comply with the ceasefire regime," he said.

The plenipotentiary representative of the LPR recalled that for this purpose the Republics offered Ukraine:

•    to return to the implementation of the Measures to Reinforce Ceasefire;
•    publicly declaring at the level of the top commanders of the Armed Forces of Ukraine that Ukraine fully complies with the Measures, including the procedure for the retaliatory fire, with a clear indication of such a procedure;
• to stop shelling of the (LPR, DPR) territory.

"The implementation of these steps is all that is needed to bring Kiev back to the ceasefire and de-escalate the situation on the contact line," the head of the LPR Foreign Ministry stressed. *t