“The Donetsk People’s Republic continues its withdrawal of heavy weapons from the contact line outlined in the Minsk agreements from September 19 last year,” Basurin told reporters.
Basurin added that the situation at the contact line is gradually stabilizing, and the independence forces “strictly observe the ceasefire and do not respond to sporadic provocations from Ukrainian troops.”
“If Ukrainian armed forces continue shelling suburbs, towns and villages in the DPR, the DPR may unilaterally declare that it will abandon this Minsk agreement,” Eduard Basurin told reporters.
A ceasefire agreement between Kiev and eastern Ukrainian militia was reached in September last year, during talks in Minsk brokered by Russia and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). A memorandum specifying the ceasefire’s implementation was signed shortly after.
Despite the truce deal, fighting failed to cease in eastern Ukraine, with both sides blaming each other of provocations.
A new ceasefire deal was outlined during talks between the leaders of Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France last week, and entered into force over the weekend. According to OSCE monitors, fighting subsided in most areas of Ukraine’s war-torn Donbas region amid the renewed ceasefire agreement.
