MINSK. Feb 28 (Interfax) - Most of the negotiators in Minsk have backed the new "spring truce" initiative for Donbas, but Kyiv postponed a decision on its start date for an indefinite period.
The Ukrainian armed forces are massing heavy weapons on the contact line, and the Special Monitoring Mission of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe has confirmed a sharp rise in attacks, Boris Gryzlov, Russia's authorized representative in the Trilateral Contact Group (TCG), told reporters after talks on Wednesday.
"In view of which the meeting focused on the OSCE initiative on a spring truce, which was supported by the Russian delegations and the delegations from the DPR and LPR [Donetsk and Luhansk people's republics]. Meanwhile, a proposal to take further measures to reinforce the ceasefire was rejected by Kyiv's side," Gryzlov said.
"As the result, Kyiv's side has cut off all specifics, leaving only a call for truce and postponed, unjustifiably, the making of a decision on the start date of the spring truce for an indefinite time," he said.
During yesterday morning alone, the Ukrainian troops fired over 100 rounds of ammunition, killing one person, who was involved in repairing housing infrastructure in Kominternove, Gryzlov said.
"Representatives from the so-called volunteer battalions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces have re-appeared on the contact line. Experience shows that it was they who were associated with the rise in ceasefire violations. Kyiv is sounding new threats against Donbas. In the run-up to elections the authorities in Kyiv are additionally and deliberately compounding the situation, and as the result the situation in Donbas is on the brink of new large-scale hostilities," Gryzlov said.
Meanwhile, the DPR has expressed regret over Ukraine's refusal to agree on the spring truce.
"Regrettably, the proposal to introduce a spring truce ahead of the upcoming holidays did not find necessary support among Ukrainian representatives. The Ukrainian side provided not a single more or less acceptable argument that would hamper the introduction of the spring truce," the DPR's Minsk negotiator Natalya Nikonorova told journalists.
Ukraine tried to convince the other attendees that discussing a ceasefire renewal would only be possible around the Easter, she said.
"Thanks to the joint efforts of the other Contact Group members, the Ukrainian negotiators were persuaded of the need to reconfirm the earlier ceasefire before the International Women's Day. For its part, the OSCE proposed holding an extraordinary video conference to clarify the start date for the spring truce," Nikonorova saud.
The next face-to-face meeting in Minsk is due on March 13, she said.