Russia refuses to approve 13 areas for mine clearance in Donbas

"We welcome yesterday's agreement reached in the Trilateral Contact Group on additional measures to consolidate the ceasefire, starting at 00:01 on July 27. Ukraine is fully committed to the agreed measures and expects that the Russian side will also fulfill its commitments. However, we cannot be equally optimistic about the other security measures currently being negotiated in the Trilateral Contact Group, including the disengagement of troops and equipment, as well as withdrawal of heavy weapons and mine clearance. The most worrying thing about the latter point is that the Russian side refuses to approve the already agreed 13 areas for mine clearance," Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the International Organizations in Vienna Yevhenii Tsymbaliuk said at the OSCE Permanent Council meeting on Thursday, July 23, an Ukrinform own correspondent reports.

Tsymbaliuk pointed out that while publicly demanding full implementation of all political provisions of the Minsk agreements, "Russia and its representatives from the temporarily occupied areas continue to block any progress on the political track of the Minsk talks."

In particular, the discussion of the special status of local self-governance in some areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions was practically stopped because of the Russian side.

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