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OSCE reports full overnight truce in eastern Ukraine

Xinhua, September 17, 2016 Adjust font size:

The previous night in the conflict-torn eastern Ukraine has passed without any ceasefire violations, signalling that the week-long truce agreed by the sides is generally holding, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) said Friday.

"All our fourteen locations in Donetsk and in Lugansk regions have reported that the last night was calm," Alexander Hug, the deputy chief monitor of the OSCE special monitoring mission to Ukraine, told reporters.

The last ceasefire violation was recorded in the restive region on Thursday afternoon, Hug said, describing the partial cessation of the violence as "remarkable and encouraging."

In the same time, Hug warned against the premature optimism concerning an establishment of a sustainable truce, saying that the situation still remains fragile due to a string of risk factors, namely close proximity of the sides and presence of heavy weapons near the frontline.

On Wednesday, the conflicting parties in eastern Ukraine have agreed on a week-long ceasefire starting Thursday.

Commenting on the new truce, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who was on a visit to Kiev along his French counterpart Jean-Marc Ayrault within the framework of the Normandy format, said it provides a chance to implement key provisions of the Minsk agreement if observed.

The Minsk ceasefire agreement, reached in early 2015 in the Belarusian capital by the leaders of the Normandy Four which consists of Germany, Russia, France and Ukraine, aims to end the conflict in eastern Ukraine that erupted in 2014, with more than 9,600 people killed so far. Endit