Ukraine at OSCE: Russia using tactics of controlled escalation in Donbas

“We understand clearly what Russia is doing. It continues using its tactics of controlled escalation, when outbreaks of hostilities serve as an instrument of pressure to make Ukraine follow Kremlin’s track of resolving the conflict through extortion and intimidation,” Yevhenii Tsymbaliuk, Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the International Organizations in Vienna, said at the OSCE Permanent Council on 17 September, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

The diplomat noted that the number of ceasefire violations remained at a record low following the adoption of additional measures on ceasefire maintenance within the Trilateral Contact Group. “This has drastically improved the security situation for civilians living in the conflict-affected areas and minimized combat casualties,” Tsymbaliuk said.

“With this in mind and in order to preserve the hard-won ceasefire arrangement, the Ukrainian side refrained from delivering a military response to the recent provocations by the Russian armed formations on 6 September. Likewise, the Ukrainian military showed utmost restraint when the Russian armed formations again deliberately violated the ceasefire on 10 September and opened unprovoked fire at Ukrainian positions in the vicinity of Shumy, Donetsk region, after weeks of groundless accusations of violations and even ultimatums, despite clear evidence to the contrary in the SMM reporting,” Ukraine’s Permanent Representative to the International Organizations in Vienna stressed.

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