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Berlin Expects New Donbass Truce to Be Effective

© Sputnik / Sergey Averin / Go to the mediabankAn apartment in a five-storied residential building in Yasinovataya, Donbass, damaged in shelling by Ukrainian army. (File)
An apartment in a five-storied residential building in Yasinovataya, Donbass, damaged in shelling by Ukrainian army. (File) - Sputnik International
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German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said that Berlin hopes that new ceasefire agreement in Ukraine's eastern Donbass region will be "more than a verbal statement."

BERLIN (Sputnik) — Berlin hopes that the new ceasefire agreement in Ukraine's eastern Donbass region will work effectively and be "more than a verbal statement," German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said Thursday in a statement, published on the ministry's website.

An apartment in a five-storied residential building in Yasinovataya, Donbass, damaged in shelling by Ukrainian army. (File) - Sputnik International
Moscow: Kiev Tries to Sabotage Minsk Deal by Asking for Peacekeepers in Donbass
On Wednesday, the Trilateral Contact Group on Ukraine held a meeting in Minsk and agreed on a ceasefire in Donbas starting from August 25. Ukraine's self-proclaimed People's Republics of Donetsk and Lugansk confirmed that they were ready to observe the truce.

"Only yesterday the parties in the conflict agreed on a ceasefire in eastern Ukraine by the beginning of the academic year. We welcome it. My hopes for the people there are that this ceasefire will differ from the previous ones and will be something more than a verbal statement, which shortly thereafter becomes invalid. People in Ukraine's east, after all, need real progress in the implementation of the Minsk Agreements," the statement on the occasion of the 26th anniversary of Ukraine’s independence read.

The statement stressed that Germany always supported Ukraine and noted that the country made a significant progress in the implementation of reforms.

Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz speaks during a news conference after an informal ministerial meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, OSCE, in Mauerbach nar Vienna, Austria, Tuesday, July 11, 2017 - Sputnik International
OSCE Chairperson Welcomes Donbass Ceasefire Taking Effect From August 25
A military conflict in Ukraine has been ongoing since 2014, after the residents of Donbass refused to recognize the new Ukrainian government that had come to power in what they perceived to be a coup. In February 2015, the parties to the Ukrainian conflict signed the Minsk peace accords in an effort to end the fighting in the crisis-torn region.

The previous ceasefire was negotiated on June 21 by a trilateral contact group, composed of Russian, Ukrainian and OSCE mediators. The sides agreed to impose a ceasefire in Ukraine's eastern regions during the summer harvest, which would last from June 24 to August 31. However, the ceasefire failed to hold, with both sides of the conflict continuing to blame each other over violations.

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