Since May 1, the situation on the contact line has sharply deteriorated. The armed formations of Ukraine are actively using weapons prohibited by the Minsk agreements, including high-caliber artillery, more than 250 times the ceasefire was violated.
Increased shelling has led to the destruction of residential buildings and civilian infrastructure. But it is most regrettable when on 1, 4 and 7 May, residents of the settlements of Spartak, Sakhanka and Aleksandrovka came under targeted fire by the AFU, as a result of which a woman died and five minor children were injured.
Only in 19 days of May, a woman died and 11 people were injured of varying severity. Reports by the OSCE SMM confirm that all civilian casualties are residents of the Republics.
But instead of investigating and bringing the perpetrators to justice, representatives of official Kiev in the Contact Group refuse to sign specific measures to control the ceasefire, as well as direct interaction in order to reduce tensions on the contact line, in fact, thereby encouraging armed aggression by the AFU.
The Donetsk People’s Republic is ready for a direct constructive dialogue with the plenipotentiary representatives of Kiev, as well as for the conscientious implementation of joint agreements in the event of the same conscientious implementation of these agreements by Kiev. But we cannot endlessly show peacefulness unilaterally when our citizens continue to suffer: a woman, a peaceful resident of Elenovka, was wounded again on our territory yesterday.
In this regard, I, as the Head of the Donetsk People’s Republic, made a decision to increase the combat readiness of the People’s Militia units in case of further aggressive behavior of Kiev. All the necessary instructions have already been given.
We call on the OSCE and the guarantors of the Minsk agreements, i.e. the Russian Federation, France and Germany, to convince the Ukrainian leadership to prevent an escalation of the conflict and to stop provocations, both on the contact line and on the negotiating platform.
Denis Pushilin,
Head of the Donetsk People’s Republic
