OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Kurz welcomes ceasefire agreement in eastern Ukraine ahead of school year’s start

VIENNA, 23 August 2017 – OSCE Chairperson-in-Office and Austria’s Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz today welcomed an agreement reached by the Trilateral Contact Group and the representatives of certain areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions to fully recommit to a permanent ceasefire on the occasion of the beginning of the school year, from midnight on 25 August 2017.

“I welcome this initiative by the sides to put the lives and well-being of civilians first as the new school year gets underway,” said Kurz. “I call on the sides to live up to their own commitments and finally establish and respect a full and permanent ceasefire. Clearly, however, many more steps will have to follow, so that the civilians of Donbas do not have to live in fear anymore.”

“I thank the leaders of the ‘Normandy Four’ for their continued engagement and their explicit support for this ceasefire. I once again remind all sides of the need to allow the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine safe and unhindered access across the conflict area, so that through their reporting and monitoring, they can help the sides establish a lasting peace.”