VIENNA, November 25. /TASS/. Russia calls of member countries of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to exert influence on the Ukrainian authorities to make them stop shelling of settlements and infrastructure facilities in Donbass, Russia’s Permanent Representative to the OSCE Alexander Lukashevich said on Thursday.

Speaking at a meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council, he voiced concern over on-going shelling of utilities infrastructure in the self-proclaimed republics. In his words, of special concern is the shelling "of a filtering station in Yasinovataya which was cut off electricity supplies."

According to Lukashevich, Russia has heard numerous calls voiced by the United States and other countries to ensure security of infrastructure facilities to avoid serious environmental impacts. "The facility in Yasinovataya was listed among them," he noted.

"We call on our partners to take more resolute steps to make Kiev stop such incidents," the Russian diplomat stressed.

On August 26, the parties to the Contact Group for settling the armed civil conflict in eastern Ukraine made a yet another, ninth, attempt to attain ceasefire. The agreement they reached suggests the ceasefire takes effect as of September 1. However the security situation in Donbass has not visibly improved, with the parties continuing to exchange accusations of ceasefire violations.

The Package of Measures to fulfil the September 2014 Minsk agreements, known as Minsk-2, that was signed in Minsk on February 12, 2015, envisaged a ceasefire regime between Ukrainian government forces and people’s militias in the self-proclaimed republics in Donetsk and Lugansk (DPR and LPR) starting from February 15, 2015 and a subsequent withdrawal of heavy weapons from the line of engagement. The deal also laid out a roadmap for a lasting settlement in Ukraine, including local elections and constitutional reform to give more autonomy to the war-torn eastern regions.