DONETSK, October 22. /TASS/. Representatives of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) will raise the issue of escalation of tensions in DPR’s south at the upcoming Contact Group meeting in Minsk on October 26, DPR envoy to the Minsk talks Denis Pushilin said on Sunday.
"The situation (at the disengagement line in the Mariupol direction) is really acute. The recent videoconference of participants of the Contact Group preceded that. The issue will be raised at the meeting in Minsk," Donetsk News Agency quoted Pushilin as saying.
The envoy said the Ukrainian Armed Forces are deliberately fanning tensions at the contact line "to divert attention from their reluctance to withdraw weaponry in Stanitsa Luganskaya."
The situation in the Mariupol direction deteriorated last week when, according to DPR, Ukrainian forces tried to break through defense near the settlement of Kominternovo. DPR operational command said that Ukrainian forces tried to surround DPR positions twice in order to seize them. Several other attacks were reported in settlements of Leninskoye, Bezymennoye and Sakhanka in DPR’s south.