MOSCOW, November 5. /TASS/. In spite of excesses and provocations, there are positive dynamics in the situation with the ceasefire in the Donbas region, they must be consolidated, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said on Thursday.
"The situation with the ceasefire and disengagement of the conflicting parties gives rise to restrained optimism," the diplomat said. "We regularly register excesses and provocations, but there are positive dynamics which must be consolidated."
Russian Ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Alexander Lukashevich earlier said that the organization’s special monitoring mission regularly provided reports on military equipment beyond the withdrawal lines envisaged by the Minsk Package of Measures and the Supplement to it.
"A significant threat of escalation comes from the concentration of the military equipment of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, including in the neighboring areas, particularly in the east of the Dnepropetrovsk region," Lukashevich said. "Thus there is a need for drone missions to these areas, an increase in the number of observers in the Dnipropetrovsk and Kharkiv regions, which would allow them to provide daily patrols, including visits to warehouses and units of the Ukrainian Armed Forces."
According to reports that came in earlier this month, the mission registered more frequent artillery bombardments of the northern outskirts of Donetsk and Spartak village. Due to this, representatives of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk republics demanded the early convocation of the Contact Group. On November 3, the situation was a discussion point during the video conference of the Contact Group members.