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Ukrainian president’s envoy calls to pool efforts to return to Minsk protocol

“This is the only way today to settle the conflict - to have all the parties observe the ceasefire regime”, Irina Gerashchenko said

KIEV, November 28. /TASS/. Pooled efforts are needed to return to the implementation of the Minsk protocol, Ukrainian president’s envoy for the settlement in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions Irina Gerashchenko said on Friday.

“We all must spare no effort to get back to the implementation of the Minsk protocol,” she told journalists. “As a matter of fact, this is the only way today to settle the conflict - to have all the parties observe the ceasefire regime, pull heavy weapons from the buffer zone and all illegal armed groups leave these territories.”

In this connection, she stressed the important role of international organizations that monitor the situation in eastern Ukraine. “It is vitally important that all international missions that are tasked to monitor the situation exert maximum efforts to ensure peace,” she underscored.

The parties to the Ukrainian conflict agreed on a ceasefire at OSCE-mediated talks on September 5 in Belarusian capital Minsk two days after Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed his plan to settle the situation in the east of Ukraine. The ceasefire took effect the same day but reportedly has occasionally been violated.

On September 19 in Minsk, the Trilateral Contact Group on Ukraine comprising representatives of Ukraine, Russia and the OSCE adopted a memorandum outlining the parameters for the implementation of commitments on the ceasefire in Ukraine laid down in the Minsk Protocol of September 5. The document contains nine points, including in particular a ban on the use of all armaments and withdrawal of weapons with the calibres of over 100 millimetres to a distance of 15 kilometres from the contact line from each side. The OSCE was tasked with controlling the implementation of memorandum provisions.