Ukraine Contact Group, separatists deny Russian news agency TASS reports on ceasefire deal in Minsk


Representatives of the contact group on the Ukraine crisis said no agreement had yet been reached on a ceasefire in talks in Minsk on Tuesday, denying a report by Russia’s TASS news agency that a deal had been reached, reuters.com reports.

TASS, quoting an unnamed source, earlier said the envoys from Russia, Ukraine, pro-Russian rebels and the OSCE security watchdog had agreed a ceasefire for east Ukraine, a monitoring mechanism and a scheme for withdrawal of heavy weapons.

However, Denis Pushilin, a representative of the self-proclaimed Donetsk people’s republic, told Russian channel Rossiya24 it was too early to talk of any agreements and said the sides were now taking a break.

He later told journalists he had handed over to the Ukrainian side a proposal of “political and military steps” towards de-escalation and that the talks would resume after the Ukrainian envoy considers them. He did not say whether the talks would continue on Tuesday or later on.

According to him, the sides were expected to study the document and discuss it after the break.

Vladislav Deinego, a representative of the unrecognised Luhansk people’s republic, said that ‘lasting peace is impossible without a political solution’. Agreements on ceasefire were signed but they were violated due to the lack of ‘political will’, news agency BelaPAN quotes him.

Ukraine’s news resource zn.ua says with a reference to its own sources that the sides failed to find any constructive decisions and the talks are to continue on February, 11.

The members of the Contact Group on Ukraine  (OSCE-Ukraine-Russia) and representatives of Donetsk and Luhansk ‘republics’were meeting ahead of Wednesday’s summit of leaders of Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany who will try to broker a peace deal in the conflict, which has killed more than 5,000 people. Taking any positive decision in the contact group talks might pave the way to a breakthrough in the negotiations of the four leaders .

The negotiations in Belarus coincided with fierce fighting in eastern Ukraine on Tuesday. Clashes were reported in Mariupol, Kramatorsk and Debaltseve. According to officials in Kyiv, its military center in Kramatorsk, far away from the front lines, came under shellfire for the first time. Seven Ukrainian soldiers, seven separatist fighters, and a total of 23 civilians were reported dead around Ukraine during the day.

www.belsat.eu/en, following Reuters, Deutsche Welle

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