“We still do not know the exact date, but we will continue organizing it,” Pavlo Klymkin said after taking part in a foreign ministers’ meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in the Swiss city of Basel.
On Thursday, the Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko announced his decision to introduce a silence regime along the line in the southeast of the country separating Kiev forces and independence supporters starting December 9. Poroshenko said the step was a renewed effort to implement a truce between the opposing parties, which agreed a ceasefire on September 5.
The same day Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov expressed confidence that only direct talks between Kiev and the two self-proclaimed republics of Donetsk and Luhansk could yield results and settle the country's political crisis.
The crisis in Ukraine escalated in mid-April, as Kiev launched a military operation against independence supporters, who refused to recognize new Ukrainian authorities following a February coup. The independence fighters proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk people's republics (DPR, LPR) and declared their independence from Ukraine.
Since the truce was established between the parties in September, almost 1,000 deaths have been reported in numerous episodes of ceasefire violations, according to the UN figures.
Ukrainian Diplomat Views True Ceasefire in East as Key for Reconciliation
Reaching a true ceasefire in eastern Ukraine should become the Ukrainian government’s priority in the reconciliation talks, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin said Friday.
“A true ceasefire should become our priority for the near future,” Klimkin said after a foreign ministers’ meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in the Swiss city of Basel.
A ceasefire agreement between Kiev and independence supporters of the Ukrainian southeast was reached on September 5, through the mediation of representatives from Russia and the OSCE. Despite the truce, numerous breaches of the ceasefire regime have been reported since then, with the sides accusing each other of escalating the conflict.
According to the UN Human Rights Office, between the beginning of the ceasefire in September and November 18, almost 1,000 fatalities have been reported in the area, while the number of internally displaced people has increased sharply, reaching 466,829 as of November 19.
