Press Statement of Special Representative of OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Sajdik on conduct of disengagement from the agreed area at Stanytsia Luhanska

KYIV 28 June 2019 - 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 today regarding the conduct of disengagement from the agreed area at Stanytsia Luhanska:

"I thank the sides for this long-awaited and important step on the way towards a peaceful settlement of the conflict in the east of Ukraine as well as the staff and the leadership of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission for their tremendous contribution to the implementation of this process.

Together with this, let me express special appreciation to the representative of Ukraine in the Trilateral Contact Group, Leonid Danilovych Kuchma, for his invaluable contribution to this process. His personal participation today during the disengagement operation in Stanytsia Luhanska has been an important encouragement to fulfill the obligations.

I hope that, following the letter and the spirit of the Minsk agreements and in the interest of the civilian population, the successful completion of this disengagement operation will be followed by further reciprocal steps, such as the repair of the access to the pedestrian bridge across the river Siverskyi Donets at Stanytsia Luhanska and  the reconfirmation by the sides of their commitment to a robust, sustainable and permanent ceasefire.”