DONETSK, August 10 /ITAR-TASS/. The main condition for a ceasefire by militia in Ukraine’s southeast is a similar measure from the Ukrainian troops, Donetsk People’s Republic’s Ministry of Information Policy said in a statement published on the authority’s website on Sunday.

The statement reads: “we are always open for a ceasefire agreement… not to allow spread of the humanitarian catastrophe, which has begun in Donbass already.”

“Ceasefire may be mutual only. However, despite the urges coming now from even the international community, Kiev continues its punitive operation. Informal consultations featuring OSCE bring no results, and yet the republic’s government is ready to continue them.”

The statement read conditions to begin “a negotiation process are: complete withdrawal of the Ukrainian troops from the territory of the Donetsk republic and participation in the negotiations exclusively of official Ukrainian representatives.”

The government of the self-proclaimed republic stressed there is no replacing ceasefire with negotiations.

“In the past, we had only informal consultations with some contact group, which did not have official authorities, and that ceasefire agreement was not observed by the Ukrainian side,” the statement read.

On August 9, Prime Minister of the self-proclaimed Donetsk Republic Alexander Zakharchenko announced the republic was ready for a ceasefire not to allow spread of the humanitarian catastrophe in Donbass. His statement was published on the dnr.today website.