MINSK, 20 December (BelTA) - From the beginning of 2018 until 17 December, the number of civilian casualties decreased by half compared with the same period of last year, Special Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office in Ukraine and in the Trilateral Contact Group (TCG), Ambassador Martin Sajdik, made the following statement to the press after the meeting of the TCG and its Working Groups in Minsk on 19 December 2018, BelTA has learned.
According to Martin Sajdik, these are 43 killed and 182 injured. The number of injured fell by 52%, thereby reaching its lowest level since the beginning of the conflict. It became possible also thanks to the announcement of school, harvest, New Year and other truces in Donbass.
At the same time the diplomat stated that “any human victim is one too much”. “There have also been disturbing trends. According to non-governmental organizations, approximately seven thousand square kilometers in eastern Ukraine are mined and contaminated by mines and unexploded ordnance, which makes it one of the most densely mined areas in the world,” Martin Sajdik said. He is convinced that the situation in the conflict zone could be even better. “The Russian Federation and Ukraine need to work on bilateral relations, they need to improve them,” the ambassador said.
The key issues for the Trilateral Contact Group and its Security Working Group were general security and the cessation of fire. “The sides renewed their previously declared recommitment to a sustainable and comprehensive ceasefire. To agree on its final modalities in the New Year and Christmas holiday period, the TCG tasked the Security Working Group to hold an extraordinary meeting in videoconference format on 27 December 2018,” the diplomat said.
The Humanitarian Working Group continued its discussion on the issues related to the exchange of detainees and the search for missing persons. In addition, the transfer of detainees not related to the conflict from certain areas of Donetsk and Lugansk regions to the territory controlled by the Ukrainian government was considered in detail.
Martin Sajdik added that the transfer of such detainees from Donetsk and Lugansk regions, forty-two and thirteen persons respectively, took place on 12 and 13 December 2018. For the first time ever, such a transfer from Lugansk Oblast was made possible. The diplomat welcomed the step and expressed hope that this process would successfully continue in the future.
Participants of the Economic Working Group discussed topics such as water deliveries in the Karbonyt and Voda Donbasa supply systems on both sides of the contact line. Payments of pensions to the residents of Donetsk and Lugansk regions were also considered.
The Political Working Group took forward its exchanges on the implementation of the ‘Steinmeier formula', amnesty and the modalities of local elections in Donetsk and Lugansk regions as stipulated by the Minsk agreements.
The Trilateral Contact Group will next meet on 16 January 2019.
