Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Andriy Yermak met with OSCE Secretary General Helga Maria Schmid.
The event was also attended by Head of the Ukrainian Delegation to the Trilateral Contact Group, President of Ukraine in 1991-1994 Leonid Kravchuk, First Deputy Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council Ruslan Demchenko, Special Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office in Ukraine Heidi Grau and Chief Monitor of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine Yaşar Halit Çevik.
The interlocutors discussed the results of the meeting of advisers to the leaders of the Normandy format countries, which took place on May 26 in the format of a video conference, as well as the situation in Donbas and the course of the OSCE mission to Ukraine.
Andriy Yermak said that a Ukrainian serviceman was killed by a sniper shot in Donbas today.
"We have not yet been able to agree on a joint statement on the return to full ceasefire. I want to assure you that Ukraine will not stop for a single moment in its work, because it concerns the lives of our people and the security of our land," he said.
The Head of the Office of the President thanked the OSCE Mission for its efforts to bring peace back to Ukraine. Andriy Yermak noted the support of Germany and France in the Normandy talks.
For her part, the OSCE Secretary General thanked for the high evaluation of the efforts of the representatives of the Organization. She added that SMM representatives are making every effort to achieve progress in resolving the situation in eastern Ukraine.
"I would like to emphasize the need for the line of contact to never become a line of division or split. Every effort should be made to provide appropriate humanitarian support. This also concerns pensions. Steps must be taken towards reconciliation. Of course, COVID-19 made its adjustments in reality - the number of crossings of the contact line reduced by 97%. I am very grateful to Ukraine for the fact that the checkpoints remain open on your part," said Helga Maria Schmid.
At the same time, she noted a significant restriction on the freedom of movement of observers of the monitoring mission.
"More than 90% of these cases are on the other side of the line of contact. There is also an alarming trend - an increase in the number of cases of drone signal jamming, interference in the work of the mission's technical means," said the OSCE Secretary General.
Andriy Yermak said that the Ukrainian side focuses on these issues during the talks at all international platforms. He added that the possibilities of solving these problems will increase if the ceasefire is observed.
"We will not stop because we have no other alternative, and we must stop this war and return our territories. Even if it is necessary to make a thousand attempts and only one of them will get a chance to achieve results," said the Head of the President's Office.