Donetsk, Feb 12 - DAN. Ukraine has fully blocked the search for the people reported as missing since the beginning of the Donbass conflict, DPR ombudswoman Darya Morozova told Donetsk News Agency on Monday.
“UN reports 900 unmarked graves in Ukraine at present, I’m sure some of the missing persons are interred there, but Ukraine is blocking the issue; we cannot make headway,” Morozova said.
She said she was hoping that DPR and Ukraine would make progress in exchanging DNA databases adding that this would make the search for the missing persons much easier.
The ombudswoman noted that humanitarian subgroup interaction with Kiev on all tracks of negotitations had not yielded any signficant results.
“The Minsk Agreements can be viewed as the only political means of halting the active phase of fighting, though you can hardly regard them as an effective measure to stop Donbass civilians massacre,” Morozova said.
12 February 2018 marks the 3rd anniversary of the signing of the Package of Measures for the Implementation of the Minsk Agreements. The document was finalised and signed amidst active phase of Donbass fighting. The intensity of strikes decreased after the signing of the Package of Measures, yet the region did not see full-fledged peace.
The Package of Measures envisioned immediate and comprehensive ceasefire in Donbass starting 15 February 2015, withdrawal of heavy weapons, discussion of the modalities for the resumption of payment of pensions and allowances to DPR and LPR citizens, and constitutional reform in Ukraine which should result in deep decentralisation.*jk