Donetsk, Aug 23 – DAN. DPR representative at the Joint Centre for Control and Coordination (JCCC) Ruslan Yakubov said that the statement by the Commander of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valeriy Zaluzhny on offensive actions in Donbass testifies to the de-facto refusal of a peaceful settlement.
On August 22, the commander of the Ukrainian armed forces, Valeriy Zaluzhny, said at an international volunteer and veteran forum in Kiev that Ukraine needs to prepare for offensive actions "to liberate the occupied territories."
"The implementation of agreements on security issues within the framework of a peaceful negotiating platform is out of question. We regard such statements at such a high official level as Ukraine's refusal of its obligations to peacefully resolve the conflict in Donbass," Yakubov said.
He added that the security situation along the contact line deteriorates. According to Yakubov, DPR is daily subjected to shelling with various types of weapons. Since the beginning of the year, the Ukrainian army has fired 201 artillery rounds and 2,790 mortar rounds targeting the DPR, killing six civilians and injuring another 11. More than 200 houses, infrastructure facilities and vehicles have been destroyed.
The Additional Measures to Strengthen the Ceasefire were signed at the Contact Group meeting on July 22 to reinforce and control the indefinite ceasefire in effect since July 21, 2019, the latest in the series of more than 20 reconfirmation and announcements of the “silence regime”. The package came into effect on July 27. *ot