Press Statement of Special Representative Grau after the regular Meeting of Trilateral Contact Group on 11 November 2020

KYIV, 11 November  2020 – The Special Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office in Ukraine and in the Trilateral Contact Group (TCG), Ambassador Heidi Grau, made the following statement to the press after the regular meetings of the TCG ‎and its Working Groups held through video conferencing:

“According to the assessments of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission, the ceasefire continues to be generally respected.

On the other hand, its repeated violations are alarming, especially in the area around the Donetsk Filtering Station (DFS) being the hot spot with the highest level of kinetic activity in the conflict zone. It accounts for about 44% of all ceasefire violations recorded by the SMM OSCE since 27 July.

This poses a serious danger to the civilian population and calls into question the operation of the station that provides water supplies to about 380,000 people on both sides of the contact line.

These issues were raised by the Security Working Group. Different aspects of the coordination mechanism for responding to ceasefire violations were also discussed.

The Working Group on Political Issues started developing a draft action plan in full compliance with the Minsk Agreements. Participants in the Working Group presented their proposals, but certain work still remains to be done to bring the positions closer.

The discussions of the Humanitarian Working Group focused on the simultaneous opening of the new entry-exit checkpoints (EECPs) in Zolote and Shchastya of the Luhansk region that was scheduled for 10 November 2020.

On both sides of the contact line, the infrastructure necessary to open the EECPs was prepared in time. However, it was not possible to agree on the order of EECPs’ operation before the scheduled opening date.

The participants of the TCG meeting showed readiness to urgently resolve the remaining issues with a view to opening both checkpoints as soon as possible. This is very important for freedom of movement.

The Economic Working Group focused on water supplies across the contact line in Donetsk and Luhansk regions. The discussion also touched upon environmental issues and questions of the payment of overdue salaries to former employees of “Ukrainian Railways” residing in certain areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine”.