Press Statement of Special Representative of OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Sajdik after Meeting of Trilateral Contact Group on 19 December 2018

MINSK, 19 December 2018 – The Special Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office in Ukraine and in the Trilateral Contact Group (TCG), Ambassador Martin Sajdik, made the following statement to the press after the meeting of the TCG ‎and its Working Groups in Minsk on 19 December 2018:

“Today the TCG convened for the last time this year.

Assessing the outgoing year, I would like to stress an important aspect. From the beginning of this year until 17 December, the number of civilian casualties decreased by half compared with the same period of last year, and the number of injured fell by 52%, thereby reaching its lowest level since the beginning of the conflict. Against the background of this notable tendency, I would like to reiterate that any human victim is one too much.

At the same time, there have also been disturbing trends. According to non-governmental organisations, approximately seven thousand square kilometres in eastern Ukraine are mined and contaminated by mines and unexploded ordnance, which makes it one of the most densely mined areas in the world.

Today, the key issues for the TCG and its Security Working Group were general security and the cessation of fire.

The sides renewed their previously declared recommitment to a sustainable and comprehensive ceasefire. To agree on its final modalities in the New Year and Christmas holiday period, the TCG tasked the Security Working Group to hold an extraordinary meeting in videoconference format on 27 December 2018.

The Humanitarian Working Group continued its discussion on the issues related to the exchange of detainees and the search for missing persons. In addition, the transfer of detainees not related to the conflict from certain areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions (CADR and CALR) to the territory controlled by the Ukrainian government was considered in detail.

As you know, the transfer of such detainees from CADR and CALR, forty-two and thirteen persons respectively, took place on 12 and 13 December 2018. I would like to note that for the first time ever, such a transfer from CALR was made possible. In this regard, I want to express my sincere appreciation to Ambassador Toni Frisch. I welcome this step and hope that this process will successfully continue in the future.

Participants of the Economic Working Group discussed topics such as water deliveries in the "Karbonyt" and "Voda Donbasa" supply systems on both sides of the contact line. Payments of pensions to the residents of CADR and CALR as well as improvement of the Vodafone-Ukraine mobile network were also considered.

The Political Working Group took forward its exchanges on the implementation of the ‘Steinmeier formula’, amnesty and the modalities of local elections in CADR and CALR as stipulated by the Minsk agreements.

We will meet gain in four weeks, already in the New Year, on Wednesday, the 16th of January 2019. In the meantime, I wish all of you and your loved ones beautiful, bright and, most importantly, peaceful Christmas and New Year holidays.”