Donetsk, Jul 27 - DAN. Precise interaction with Ukraine within the coordination mechanism will help resolve the problem of verification of ceasefire violations in Donbass, head of the Donetsk People’s Republic Office at the Joint Centre for Control and Coordination (JCCC) Ruslan Yakubov told the Donetsk News Agency on Tuesday.
“A year has passed since the Additional Measures to Strengthen the Ceasefire came into force,” Yakubov said. “Despite a certain decrease in Ukrainian armed formations’ strikes compared with the same period before the signing of this accord, Ukraine continues to open fire at DPR militiamen and civilians.”
Kiev forces have opened fire at the DPR more than 1,000 times over a year using heavy weapons in one-third of the strikes, according to his information. Five civilians were killed and another 12 were wounded over this period. Four houses were fully destroyed and 173 houses and eight vehicles were damaged. On top of that, Ukrainian armed formations used unmanned aerial vehicles seven times over the designated period to deliver strikes; two such attacks resulted in fatalities.
The launching of a clear and precise algorithm of interaction within the coordination mechanism at the level of representatives of the conflicting parties at the JCCC in the current membership will help resolve the key disputed issue, namely verification of violations of the “Additional Measures” by the parties, on which further interaction depends such as quick response for immediate ceasefire, an investigation, holding the culprits responsible or taking measures to prevent violations in the future,” he said.
Ukraine had not admitted a single violation by its troops over a year. Kiev alleges that the DPR has been “faking and imitating” damage, destruction and even casualties among civilians for the eighth year running. The biggest absurdity is that this remark sounded amid complete silence of head of OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine Yasar Halit Cevik, the DPR Office head added.
“It is perfectly obvious that with the current level of mistrust between the conflicting parties, it is impossible to launch full-fledged operation of the coordination mechanism without mutual verification of violations. Kiev, while understanding it, has been stubbornly blocking the work on the document for more than ten months. This warrants the conclusion that Ukraine is unwilling to achieve the soonest peaceful settlement of the armed conflict in Donbass which it unleashed,” Yakubov said.
The Contact Group agreed and signed a package of tighter ceasefire control measures in Donbass on July 22, 2020. The “Measures” came into effect five days later. They envision the search and punishment for ceasefire violators. To this end, the parties agreed to design and launch a coordination mechanismm.*jk