Donbas crisis far from being settled – United States

The crisis in Ukraine is still far from being settled despite the current ceasefire.

U.S. Ambassador to the OSCE Daniel Baer said this at the OSCE Permanent Council meeting, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

"The United States observes the relative calm along the demarcation line in eastern Ukraine. The ongoing improvement in the security situation in Donbas will facilitate further efforts to implement political, economic and humanitarian aspects of the Minsk Agreements. However, we should not be lulled with a false sense of security," Baer said.

According to him, Russia and Russian-backed separatists continue accumulating weapons, which could be quickly moved to the front to re-escalate the conflict. "The Russian-separatist troops continue accumulating a large number of weapons near the withdrawal line. Last week, the OSCE SMM found a tank and four military vehicles in the separatist-controlled territory in violation of the due withdrawal lines. Even more alarming is the fact that the SMM found 45 main battle tanks in the separatist-controlled territory of Donetsk region," the Ambassador said.

Baer added that the Ukrainian troops met their commitments and pulled backed weapons to the specified lines.

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