OSCE: Prospects for peace in eastern Ukraine are «bleak»

Prospects for peace in eastern Ukraine are «bleak», underscoring the need to uphold a shaky ceasefire between government forces and pro-Russian separatist rebels, a senior official from the OSCE security watchdog said on Thursday
Swiss diplomat Heidi Tagliavini, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s envoy to the Trilateral Contact Group that includes senior representatives from Ukraine and Russia, said there was no alternative to peace accords signed in Minsk in September, no matter how dire the situation.
«Whatever their shortcomings may be and wherever they may need to be supplemented, the Minsk documents are the door on the road to peace in eastern Ukraine, and they will continue to be so,» she told a meeting of the 57-member OSCE in Vienna.
«I am unable to accept any remarks that the ceasefire arrangements of Minsk have fallen apart. Yes, it has been broken many times but it is the only agreement in place which has any restraining power on the use of force.»
The OSCE’s special monitoring mission (SMM) in eastern Ukraine said military personnel shot in the direction of one its convoys near the rebel stronghold of Donetsk on Wednesday. It did not say which side was responsible for the firing, the first apparent instance of the SMM being targeted.
Tagliavini said the situation had not improved since world leaders met last weekend in Australia, where they threatened Russian President Vladimir Putin with more sanctions. Fighting continues at key locations including Donetsk airport and the outskirts of the coastal city of Mariupol.
She said the conflict could escalate, with severe consequences for the region and beyond, if not handled with care. «The outlook is still bleak,» she added, citing reports of a new military buildup in the conflict zone.
 

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