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Developments in eastern Ukraine

Slovakia's president says Russia’s mediation needed for stable peace in Ukraine

Only dialogue and diplomatic settlement of the conflict with the participation of Russia will lead to the stable peace in Ukraine, Slovakia's President Andrej Kiska says

Slovakia's President Anrej Kiska addresses the 69th Session of the UN General Assembly EPA/ANDREW GOMBERT

Slovakia's President Anrej Kiska addresses the 69th Session of the UN General Assembly

© EPA/ANDREW GOMBERT

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Eastern Ukraine during ceasefire

THE UNITED NATIONS, September 25. /ITAR-TASS/. Stable peace in conflict-hit Ukraine can be achieved only by means of a dialogue with the participation of Russia, Slovakia's President Andrej Kiska said on Thursday.

“We are positive that only dialogue and diplomatic settlement of the conflict with the participation of Russia will lead to the stable peace in Ukraine,” Kiska said, addressing the UN General Assembly in New York.

The parties to the Ukrainian conflict agreed on a ceasefire and exchange of captives during the OSCE-mediated talks in Minsk on September 5 that came two days after Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed his seven-point plan to settle the situation in the east of Ukraine. The long anticipated ceasefire took effect the same day, but reports have said it has been violated several times.

Last Friday, the Contact Group consisting of representatives from Russia, Ukraine, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), as well as representatives from the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) and Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR), signed a memorandum outlining the parameters for the implementation of the ceasefire commitments laid down in the Minsk Protocol of September 5.

Fierce clashes between troops loyal to Kiev and local militias in the south-eastern Ukrainian Donetsk and Luhansk regions during Kiev’s military operation to regain control over the breakaway territories left thousands killed, inflicted massive destruction and forced hundreds of thousands to flee Ukraine’s south-east.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein said earlier in the month that according to latest UN estimates, at least 3,000 people were killed since the conflict erupted in mid-April.

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