Donetsk, Sep 11 - DAN. Ukrainian army units planted anti-tank mines in an area located 150 metres from the disengagement zone in the Petrovskoye village south of Donetsk, the Donetsk People’s Republic People’s Militia said on Wednesday.
“We detected the planting of 32 anti-tank mines (TM-62) in the Bogdanovka village area, 150 metres north from the edge of the Petrovskoye disengagement zone, which threatens the life and creates obstacles to the work of OSCE SMM monitors,” a People’s Militia officer said.
On Tuesday, the security subgroup had a video conference to review and coordinate the text of the schedule plan for eliminating the violations in the Petrovskoye and Zolotoye pilot disengagement zones. However, the parties failed to find a consensus and decided to have a new videoconference ahead of the Contact Group meeting on September 18.
The Contact Group participants - DPR, LPR, Ukraine, Russia and OSCE signed the framework agreement on disengagement of forces in Donbass in late September 2016. It sets three pilot security areas in Petrovskoye (DPR territory), and Stanitsa Luganskaya and Zolotoye (LPR). Each withdrawal area measures at least 2 kilometres wide and 2 kilometres deep.
The disengagement was completed in the Petrovskoye and Zolotoye areas in October 2016. In Stanitsa Luganskaya, it was completed on June 30, 2019. Meanwhile, the DPR and LPR repeatedly reported an unstable situation in the Petrovskoye and Zolotoye disengagement zones where Ukrainian troops were spotted again. Donetsk and Lugansk demand that Kiev restore the parity and pull back its troops from the withdrawal areas.*jk