DONETSK/MINSK. June 19 (Interfax) - The security subgroup has failed to agree on a new truce in Donbas and on the package of measures for observing the ceasefire, Foreign Minister of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) Natalya Nikonorova told reporters.
"In return to the draft statement on a truce suggested by the OSCE on the eve of the meeting we have sent to the Mission the Contact Group's draft statement on the adherence to the observation of the ceasefire in connection with the upcoming harvesting season. However, today the negotiators unfortunately failed to fulfill the Contact Group's directive to present a compromising version of the package of additional measures for its approval," she said.
OSCE Special Envoy to the Trilateral Contact Group on Ukraine Martin Sajdik, in turn, said he hopes that the opposing sides will agree on the next truce by their next meeting. Despite the parties' obvious interest in the so-called bread truce, they unfortunately failed to reach an agreement on the text of the joint statement today, Sajdik told reporters in Minsk on Wednesday.
He expressed hope that it will be reached either at the next meeting or before the next TCG meeting, which will be held in Minsk on July 2, the special envoy added.
Sajdik said that civilians, who live in the conflict zone, need this truce along with the large-scale mine sweeping.
"The security subgroup is tasked to prepare the so-called 'bread truce,'" Darka Olifer, press secretary of second Ukrainian President and Ukraine's TCG envoy Leonid Kuchma, wrote on Facebook on Wednesday. In these conditions the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) should be granted the reliable and safe access throughout Ukraine in line with its mandate.
The Ukrainian side said the recent exacerbation of the situation obstructs the introduction of the ceasefire for civilians on both sides of the contact line.
The humanitarian subgroup also focused on the release of prisoners, this work is under way. In particular, the negotiators discussed the International Committee of the Red Cross' (ICRC) involvement in efforts to look for missing people.
Ukraine also said that the issuance of Russian passports to Donbas residents is unacceptable. "These actions are blocking the Minsk process and jeopardizing the further process of peaceful settlement," according to the Kyiv regime.
The socio-economic subgroup discussed infrastructural issues, in particular, ensuring steady water supplies to Donbas civilians.
At the TCG meeting the Ukrainian side briefed the negotiators on its further steps for minesweeping efforts, reminding them that the Ukrainian State Emergency Situations Service's Mine Clearance Center was opened in Mariupol last week. At the same time, Kyiv said that about 7,000 square kilometers of only the Donbas territory controlled by Ukraine had been mined.