Donetsk, Oct 13 – DAN Donetsk People’s Republic leader Alexander Zakharchenko has noted serious aggravation of the situation along the Contact Line in Donbass, including the Debaltsevo area.
“The situation is taking a turn for the worse not only in Novoazovsk. It has worsened in Debaltsevo, Peski and Dokuchayevsk,” he told reporters on Thursday. “The disengagement of personnel and equipment in other areas is out of the question.”
On October 7, Ukraine and DPR pulled back their forces from the area near the village of Petrovskoye in the first ever disengagement in DPR history. The army units of the conflicting sides withdrew to the rear to a depth of two kilometers from their initial positions.
In the Lugansk People’s Republic, disengagement only took place near the village of Zolotoye.
The Contact Group participants (DPR, LPR, Ukraine, Russia and OSCE) signed the framework agreement on disengagement of forces on September 21-23. The document sets the procedure for withdrawing the army units of the conflicting parties in three pilot areas: Petrovskoye in the DPR and Stanitsa Luganskaya and Zolotoye in the Lugansk People’s Republic.
A separate security zone has been specified for each area, with a width and depth of least two kilometers.
The Contact Group was later expected to coordinate in Minsk new areas for reciprocal withdrawal of personnel and equipment from the Contact Line.