MINSK, 17 January (BelTA) - Another meeting of the Trilateral Contact Group on resolving the situation in Ukraine's east is in progress in Minsk, representatives of the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs told BelTA.
The meeting of the Trilateral Contact group was preceded by the meetings of its working groups.
The previous meeting of the Trilateral Contact Group took place on 19 December. Special Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office in Ukraine and in the Trilateral Contact Group (TCG), Ambassador Martin Sajdik stated that from the beginning of 2018 until 17 December, the number of civilian casualties in the conflict zone in Donbass decreased by half compared with the same period of last year. 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.
The key issues for the Trilateral Contact Group and its Security Working Group were general security and the cessation of fire. 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. 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.
