The regular meeting of the Trilateral Contact Group in video conference format took place.
At the beginning of the meeting, the Ukrainian party congratulated the TCG participants on the successful mutual release of detained persons, which took place on April 16.
The Ukrainian party also supported the initiative of the UN Secretary-General to introduce a sustainable and permanent ceasefire regime at the delimitation line.
Pursuant to the agreements reached at the December summit of the leaders of the Normandy Four in Paris, the Ukrainian party initiated the creation of a working group within the TCG with the participation of representatives of the border and customs services of Ukraine and Russia and the OSCE mediators to develop a mechanism for restoring Ukraine’s control over the state border. The possibility of creating such groups is envisaged in paragraph 13 of the Complex of Measures on the Fulfillment of the Minsk Agreements.
As part of the work of the security group, the Ukrainian party shared concerns of the OSCE representatives about the fact that the work of the OSCE SMM was blocked in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine and insisted on the unconditional and unhindered access of observers to the temporarily occupied territories of Donbas.
Also the work on choosing the next disengagement areas was continued within the security group. The Ukrainian party insists that such areas should meet humanitarian needs and create security centers for local residents - citizens of Ukraine.
The humanitarian group continued to work on the lists for the next phase of the mutual release of detained persons.
The achievements of the Ukrainian party in the humanitarian demining of social objects, including schools, kindergartens, hospitals, cemeteries, etc. were also noted.
In addition, taking into account humanitarian criteria, the TCG participants agreed on the need to intensify preparations for the opening of new checkpoints at the delimitation line.
During the work of the political group, Ukraine emphasized the need to implement the agreements the leaders of the Normandy Four reached at the Paris summit for the next meeting in Berlin to be held in the near future.
In addition, the Ukrainian party once again categorically denied the possibility of fixing the special status of the ORDLO in the Constitution of Ukraine.
Also during the meeting, the parties discussed activation in the procedural issues of TCG. The Ukrainian party initiated an extraordinary meeting of the security group in the near future.