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Situation in Ukraine about to reach dead end, says Russian senior diplomat

Russian Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko said Russia is paring no effort to establish direct dialogue between Kiev, Donetsk and Lugansk but, "regrettably, the situation is about to reach a dead-end"

MOSCOW, June 23. /TASS/. Western nations keep on fueling the conflict in Ukraine and the situation is being driven to a dead end, Russian Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko said on Tuesday.

"The Ukrainian conflict is being fueled. Under the passive eye of Western countries, or even pushed by them, Kiev keeps on dodging the implementation of the Minsk Package of Measures, keeps on shelling Donbass and maintaining a hotbed of tension near our borders," he told the OSCE Annual Security Review Conference, which was held online.

According to the Russian senior diplomat, Russia is paring no effort to establish direct dialogue between Kiev, Donetsk and Lugansk but, "regrettably, the situation is about to reach a dead-end."

Grushko called for a more efficient use of the OSCE’s possibilities to settle the conflict in Ukraine. He recalled that some 3,500 civilians had been killed and about 30,000 more had been wounded as a result of Ukraine’s force operation in Donbass. "We understand that the Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) is under severe pressure from the host state and its patrons. But its absolute dumbness is unexplainable on the background of data released by the United Nations. A general report on civilian casualties and damages over a period since 2014 is needed," he added.

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