In Minsk, they agreed on the date of the new unlimited truce in the Donbass and agreed to exchange prisoners

The contact group to resolve the conflict in eastern Ukraine held on Wednesday in Minsk one of its most fruitful meetings, having agreed on the summer truce in the Donbass, the preparation of a large exchange of prisoners and the repair of the bridge in the village of Lugansk - one of the few crossings through the distinction line. It is reported by RIA "Novosti" .

According to the results of the meeting, the Russian envoy Boris Gryzlov said that the negotiators in Minsk focused on solving people's security issues in the conflict zone and humanitarian tasks. According to him, Ukraine still does not fulfill a number of obligations, but this meeting "eventually became one of the most productive."

OSCE special representative Martin Saydik was also pleased with the results. He told reporters that the meeting of the leaders of the Norman format countries (Ukraine, Russia, France, Germany), which took place on July 12 in Paris, gave an impetus to the work of the contact group and continued to have a positive impact in the future.

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Among the main results of the negotiations in Minsk are the coordination of a new unlimited truce, on which the parties have already been working several meetings. According to Saydik, in the Donbass recently there has been an increase in the number of violations of the ceasefire and the number of victims among the civilian population. As a result, the contact group agreed on a complete ceasefire from July 21, 00.01 Kyiv time (coincides with Moscow).

In turn, Gryzlov drew attention to the fact that the alarm statement includes additional measures to increase the effectiveness of compliance with the ceasefire. So, in case of violations of the ceasefire mode, disciplinary measures will be taken, and the violation will be reported to the special monitoring mission (SMM) of the OSCE. The contact group announced the need to refuse offensive and intelligence and sabotage operations, from the use of any type of fire, including sniper, and from the placement of heavy weapons in the settlements and next to them, primarily at civilian infrastructure facilities, including schools, kindergartens, hospitals and public premises.

In addition, negotiation participants stated in the document "On their general and firm commitment" to the complete implementation of the Minsk agreements. They undertake to provide reliable and safe access to the OSCE SMM throughout Ukraine.

As the Ombudsman of the DPR Daria Morozova said, the self -proclaimed republics of the Donbass also suggested that Kyiv have urgently exchange the prisoners according to the "All for All" formula. For the final check of lists for exchange, Kyiv requested up to six weeks, then the contact group will set a specific exchange date. According to Morozova, it has so far been confirmed that in Kyiv controlled by 101 people, requested by Donetsk, and in the territory of the DPR - 50 people, wanted by Kiev.

The representative of the LPR in the humanitarian subgroup Olga Kobtseva said that the authorities of the self -proclaimed republic are ready to transfer 19 prisoners in exchange for 107 supporters of the republic. The press secretary of the representative of Kyiv at negotiations in Minsk Leonid Kuchma Daria Olifer confirmed that the humanitarian subgroup for the Donbass agreed to conduct preparations for the exchange of "69 to 208" as soon as possible.

“We do not agree to any phased exchanges,” the Ombudsman of the DPR emphasized, recalling the negative experience of the past exchange, when the subsequent stages were frozen for a year and a half. The last exchange of prisoners between Kyiv and Donbass took place in December 2017. Then the parties to the conflict stated that the process of freeing the restrained persons would continue.

In addition, the contact group for several years has unsuccessfully discussed the need to repair the bridge over the Seversky Donets at the Village of Lugansk, which was destroyed in 2015 as a result of military operations. Now the parties have agreed on the restoration of the bridge, and the conflicting parties will carry out reconstruction at the same time.

“The parties will familiarize the working group on humanitarian issues within ten days with their parts of the project for repairing the bridge over the Seversky Donets River on the Donets River in the area of ​​the village of Luganskaya. The parties simultaneously begin the repair of the bridge: the Ukrainian side will restore the collapsed flight of the bridge, and Orlo (individual regions of the Luhansk region, not controlled by Kyiv) will restore the coverage and fence,” the representative of the ATS said.

Saydik noted that before starting the repair, the parties will dismantle the fortifications - synchronously and at the same time, starting from structures on the bridge. He emphasized that the parties accepted the obligations not to use the bridge for military purposes, for sabotage and political activities, he will serve exclusively to civilian goals. The bridge in the area of ​​the village of Lugansk remains one of the few points of the transition through the demarcation line.

Meanwhile, the first assistant to the President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky, Sergei Shefir, told the LB.ua portal that Zelensky intends to achieve negotiations with the Russian leader Vladimir Putin and "reach a normal negotiation process with Russia"

"We are looking for an opportunity to go on an equal footing," said Shefir. According to him, Putin demonstrates that “nobody owes nothing to anyone,” but Kyiv still has confidence that Zelensky “achieve these negotiations”, since he demonstrates readiness for them with all his actions. This is evidenced by the current resumption of the process on the Minsk agreements.

The priority of Ukraine, the assistant Zelensky called the return of sailors detained in the Kerch Strait at the crossing of the border with Russia. “If Putin gives us the military, then this is an occasion to sit down and talk to him,” said Shefir.

He also announced the need to return "mentally" to the control of the Kiev territory of the Donbass. “Crimea is a very difficult topic. Let's start with the Donbass, and finish the peninsula,” the president’s assistant added. Shefir also pointed out the invariability of the Ukrainian position on the belonging of Crimea. A few days before, it became known that Ukraine and Russia agreed to exchange prisoners within a month .