OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Serbia, Ivica Dacic, said that the organization's Special Monitoring Mission working in Ukraine hasn't received access to the town of Debaltseve and the area around it so far.

"Reports of the SMM on denied access to the area in and around Debaltseve are alarming and I particularly call upon the representatives of the so-called 'DPR' and 'LPR' to enable SMM access to the said area without delay, which is fully in line with the Minsk agreements and the undertaken commitments," reads a statement from Dacic posted on the OSCE website.

"Despite the ongoing efforts of my Special Representative Ambassador Tagliavini, access of the SMM monitors to the area in and around Debaltseve has not been allowed," he added.

The Chairperson-in-Office recalled that the ceasefire is agreed and valid for the entire conflict area, without any exceptions. "Achieving full and verifiable ceasefire is the essential prerequisite for implementation of other agreed steps from the Package of Measures which the SMM is ready to implement," he stressed.