Ukraine seeks to stop shelling in the east, Russia seems not to have this desire – Zelensky’s spokesperson

The regime of complete and comprehensive ceasefire in eastern Ukraine is imperfect and the Ukrainian side is not satisfied with it but many lives and health of Ukrainian servicepersons have been saved over the year of its operation.

Ukraine is ready and seeks to stop the shelling once and for all but does not see the same desire on part of Russia, Presidential Spokesperson Serhiy Nykyforov told Ukrinform.

“You can look at the records for the spring and early summer of last year to see how much the intensity of the shelling has abated since the ceasefire was imposed. It is not perfect and we are not satisfied with it, but even so, it has saved the lives and health of many Ukrainian servicepersons, and this is the most important thing,” he said.

He stressed that, of course, the Ukrainian authorities wanted a complete ceasefire. “The President of Ukraine has repeatedly expressed his readiness to meet for this purpose within the Normandy format and hold face-to-face meetings with Putin. For its part, Ukraine is ready and seeks to stop the shelling once and for all but does not see the same desire on part of Russia,” said Nykyforov.

Earlier, the Ukrainian delegation to the Trilateral Contact Group reported that 45 Ukrainian service members had been killed and 163 had been wounded in eastern Ukraine over the year of the ceasefire since July 27, 2020.

At the same time, the delegation stated that compared to the period from July 2019 to July 2020, there was a two-fold drop in the number of killed Ukrainian soldiers, a three-fold drop in the number of the wounded, and almost a three-fold drop in the number of attacks. Thus, from July 27, 2019, to July 26, 2020, the armed formations of the Russian Federation launched 4,257 attacks, killed 88 Ukrainian servicepersons, and wounded 494 soldiers.

At midnight on July 27, 2020, a full and comprehensive ceasefire was imposed in Luhansk and Donetsk regions, which was agreed upon at a meeting of the Trilateral Contact Group. The relevant decision was made on July 22, 2020, by Ukraine, Russia, and the OSCE.

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