OSCE expects resumption of humanitarian supplies to ORDO
Special Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office in the Trilateral Contact Group (TCG), Ambassador Heidi Grau expressed hope for the soonest resumption of supplies of humanitarian goods from international organizations to the temporarily occupied territories of Donetsk region of Ukraine.
"I hope that delivery of humanitarian goods to certain areas of the Donetsk region of Ukraine will soon be resumed too," Grau said in a statement following meetings of the TCG and its working groups in the format of videoconferences.
She said "on Monday, a convoy with humanitarian aid intended for certain areas of Luhansk region of Ukraine crossed, for the first time, the contact line via the Schastia entry-exit crossing point. This is an encouraging step and good news for the civilian population."
According to Grau following the TCG meeting, "the commitment to the ceasefire in the conflict zone and additional measures to strengthen it are overall respected. The average number of ceasefire violations last week was ten times lower than in February 2020. Achieving total silence however requires greater political will by the sides."
She said the members of the security working group also considered procedures related to the functioning of the co-ordination mechanism for responding to ceasefire violations. The requirement to notify the use of disciplinary actions for ceasefire violations, as confirmed by SMM, was emphasized.
The Political Working Group focused on issues related to the implementation of the tasking given by the TCG to develop a draft action plan in full compliance with the Minsk agreements.
The participants of the Humanitarian Working Group discussed outstanding issues that needs to be solved to allow the simultaneous opening and full operation of the new entry-exit checkpoint near Zolote and Schastia of Luhansk region.
Participants of the Economic Working Group discussed water supplies across the contact line in certain areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine.
In addition, the parties discussed the possibility of setting up an international expert group to assess independently the situation in flooded mines in the conflict zone.
