VIENNA, November 20. /TASS/. The Contact Group’s Minsk agreements made it possible to avoid large-scale hostilities in Ukraine, OSCE Special Envoy Heidi Tagliavini said on Thursday.

Since the ceasefire there have been no hostilities, besides in the limited number of settlements, she said.

Tagliavini said she could not accept the statements that the ceasefire did not take place. This is the only agreement that strengthens the peace process, she added.

The parties to the Ukrainian conflict agreed on ceasefire and exchange of prisoners during OSCE-mediated talks on September 5 in Belarusian capital Minsk. The ceasefire took effect the same day but reports said it has occasionally been violated.

On September 3, Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested a seven-point plan to settle the crisis in Ukraine. The plan in particular calls for an end of active offensive operations by armed militia groups in south-east Ukraine in the Donetsk and Luhansk areas and withdrawal of Ukrainian army units to a distance that would make it impossible to fire on populated areas using artillery and multiple launch rocket systems. It also called for full and objective international monitoring of compliance with the ceasefire and monitoring of the situation in the safe zone created by the ceasefire, for an exchange of individuals detained by force on an "all for all" basis without any preconditions and for opening humanitarian corridors and humanitarian aid supplies to affected areas.