MOSCOW, September 25 (RIA Novosti) - The G7 foreign ministers welcomed the Ukraine ceasefire agreement signed in Minsk and condemned "the ongoing violations" of the truce deal in a joint statement on Thursday.
"We welcome the Minsk agreements of 5 and 19 September as an important step towards a sustainable, mutually agreed cease-fire, a secure Russian-Ukrainian border and the return of peace and stability to eastern Ukraine with the establishment of a 'special status' zone, which is to be empowered with a strong local self-government under Ukrainian law. We condemn the ongoing violations of the ceasefire agreement," the statement said.
The document was jointly issued by the foreign ministers of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States and High Representative of the European Union.
A meeting of the trilateral Contact Group on Ukraine held in Minsk on September 5 resulted in a ceasefire agreement between Kiev and independence supporters in eastern Ukraine.
The Contact Group, comprising delegations from Russia, Ukraine, the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk people's republics and the OSCE, held another meeting on September 19, which resulted in the adoption of a nine-point memorandum, specifying the provisions of the ceasefire.
Since the establishment of the ceasefire regime, the conflicting sides have repeatedly accused each other of violating the agreement. However, the OSCE stated earlier this month that the truce was generally holding.
