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Kiev twists ceasefire control measures, hinders their implementation — DPR

On July 27, 2020, additional ceasefire control measures came into effect in Donbass after being approved by the Contact Group

DONETSK, April 28. /TASS/. The Kiev government seeks to distort the meaning of measures to control the ceasefire in eastern Ukraine and hinders their implementation by all means, the mission of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) to the Joint Center for Control and Coordination (JCCC) said on Tuesday.

"Kiev representatives continue to persistently embroil the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission into all processes and mechanisms of interaction between the sides, vehemently opposing the dialogue at the JCCC level in the current format. By doing this, the Ukrainian side is trying to avoid responsibility, to avoid giving a direct answer about its own violations," the mission said in a statement, posted on its website.

"It is way easier to send to a neutral international mission letters and messages, which are detached from reality, while violating the existing agreements in practice at the same time," it said. "This stance completely twists the initial July 22, 2021 agreements and makes them almost impossible to implement."

On July 27, 2020, additional ceasefire control measures came into effect in Donbass after being approved by the Contact Group seeking peace for eastern Ukraine on July 22. Under the agreement, "retaliatory fire responding to an offensive operation is only permissible if it occurs at the order made by the respective leadership of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and the leadership of CADLR armed formations [certain areas of Donetsk and Lugansk regions - TASS] after an unsuccessful attempt to make use of the above-mentioned coordination mechanism."

The Donbass republics released and published such order immediately after the agreement had been signed. In contrast, in its statement of July 27, 2020 the Ukrainian Defense Ministry added a clause to the agreement which allowed opening the fire "in case of danger to Ukrainian service members," thus wrecking the entire ceasefire control mechanism.

Tensions escalated in Donbass in late February and early March. Intense shooting resumed along the contact line. Both sides reported causalities. Kiev pinned the blame for escalation on the Donbass republics. For their turn, Donetsk and Lugansk said that Kiev’s non-compliance with the July agreements had triggered it.