TCG agrees on four new disengagement areas – President’s Office

At a video conferencing meeting of the Trilateral Contact Group (Ukraine, Russia and the OSCE) with the participation of Leonid Kravchuk and Vitold Fokin, 20 demining sites and four new disengagement areas have been agreed.

During a discussion on security issues, Chief Monitor of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) to Ukraine Yasar Halit Cevik noted that after the introduction of a package of additional measures to consolidate the ceasefire regime, the ceasefire has been generally observed since July 27. In early August, the SMM did not record a single violation.

During 24 days, not a single Ukrainian soldier was killed in Donbas as a result of hostilities.

The security group reached agreements on 20 demining sites in accordance with the updated plan, envisaged by the communiqué of the Normandy Four summit held in Paris on December 9, 2019.

“This will help move forward in the implementation of the agreements of the Normandy Four leaders, reached in Paris, and get closer to holding a summit of the Normandy Four in Berlin. The Ukrainian side also supported the need to develop a framework decision of the TCG on mine action, which will help optimize further work on this issue,” the statement says.

As noted, the Ukrainian delegation supported the proposals for four new areas for the disengagement of forces and hardware.

When discussing the work of the economic group, it was said that the Ukrainian water supply company will continue to provide drinking water to the Ukrainian population living in the temporarily occupied territory on an ongoing basis.

Within the framework of the humanitarian working group, progress was made on the mutual release of detainees.

The Ukrainian side once again emphasized the fulfillment of all agreements regarding the confirmation of the lists for the mutual release of detainees and confirmed the information about the persons that the participants in the consultations asked for.

Ukraine expects symmetrical actions from the other side.

“In order to intensify the Minsk negotiation process, taking a proactive position, the Ukrainian side during a discussion on political issues stressed the need to fulfill the Paris agreements of the Normandy Four leaders, in particular, to continue work on legislation to implement the “Steinmeier formula”,” the President’s Office reported.

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