MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The foreign ministers of Serbia, Switzerland and Germany, working together as the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Troika, called for an immediate ceasefire in eastern Ukraine in a statement Saturday.
“All sides must take a constructive and pragmatic approach and demonstrate willingness in moving towards a peaceful resolution of the conflict. They should fully assume their responsibilities and immediately halt this vicious cycle of hostilities, which causes loss of civilian lives and grave humanitarian situation,” the three ministers said.
The ministers emphasized that the Minsk Agreements remain the basis document for a peaceful settlement of the conflict and called for its full implementation.
On January 31, the Trilateral Contact Group on Ukrainian crisis held a new round of peace talks in Minsk, the capital of Belarus.
The representatives of DPR and LPR, former Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma, Russian Ambassador to Ukraine Mikhail Zurabov and OSCE envoy Heidi Tagliavini, however, failed to reach any agreement.
The September 2014 Minsk agreements implied a ceasefire between Kiev and independence militias in southeastern Ukraine, an all-for-all prisoner exchange and the withdrawal of heavy weaponry along the line of contact.
Despite the ceasefire, fighting in southeastern Ukraine's Donbas region intensified in the first weeks of January.
