Attempts to change the status quo in the conflict zone around Debaltseve contravene the Minsk agreements, Deputy Chief Monitor of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) OSCE Alexander Hug has said.

"Five months ago all sides agreed on the need for a ceasefire and to refrain from attacking moves. On February 12 the same sides agreed to implement a comprehensive ceasefire from midnight on February 15 - not a partial, temporary, or half-hearted ceasefire, but a comprehensive one. The violation of the letter or spirit of these agreements directly jeopardizes achievement of the other measures agreed in Minsk. Any attempts to create so-called 'new facts on the ground' and, in particular, any attacking moves, fly in the face of these same agreements," Hug said at a press conference in Kramatorsk on Monday evening.

He said that he met with Ukrainian and Russian generals in the temporary headquarters of the joint center for control and coordination (JCCC) in the town of Soledar on February 16 evening. "I very much hope that they, as the heads of the JCCC, will jointly control and coordinate cessation of fire as soon as possible. Ukraine and Russia are among the 57 participating countries that sent the SMM here to monitor the situation, and I am determined that the SMM should fulfill the mandate given to the mission," Hug said.

Ukraine's second president (1994 to 2005) Leonid Kuchma said that during the Minsk talks on February 11 and 12 on the settlement of the situation in eastern Ukraine the leaders of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk people's republics (DPR & LPR), Alexander Zakharchenko and Igor Plotnitsky, nearly derailed the meeting by demanding that the strategic town of Debaltseve be placed under their control.

Zakharchenko said on February 14 that DPR forces had ceased fire "throughout DPR territory except internal areas - Debaltseve," and that "the Minsk agreements don't say a word about Debaltseve."

Zakharchenko told reporters that DPR forces would block all possible attempts by Ukrainian forces besieged in Debaltseve to break the siege. "We will block all attempts to break out. I've given orders to that effect," he said.