Statement by the Trilateral Contact Group on consultations held on 14 February 2015

Kyiv, 14 February 2015 - Following the recent summit meeting in the Normandy Format in Minsk, the Trilateral Contact Group (TCG), consisting of senior representatives of Ukraine, the Russian Federation and the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, today, 14 February 2015, held a round of consultations in the form of a video-conference with representatives of certain areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

Issues of the practical implementation of the “Package of Measures for the Implementation of the Minsk Agreements”, adopted in Minsk on 12 February 2015, were discussed during the consultations. Particular emphasis was placed on full respect of provisions concerning the ceasefire, which should be strictly implemented from 15 February 2015 at 00.00 hours Kiev time, as well as the withdrawal of heavy weapons, as agreed in the Package of Measures.

It was agreed that all actors will undertake all necessary measures aimed at achieving the above objectives and the speedy de-escalation of ongoing hostilities in the conflict zone, in particular in the vicinity of the towns of Debaltseve and Mariupol, which have seen the heaviest fighting in recent days.

It was also decided that the Trilateral Contact Group will hold further consultations with representatives of certain areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions on a regular basis in order to facilitate the full implementation of the Minsk Agreements of 5 and 19 September 2014 and the Package of Measures of 12 February 2015.