Participants in the negotiating process on Ukraine have called on the warring parties in Donbas to swiftly re-open checkpoints along the dividing line, said Martin Sajdik, a Special Representative of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).

Members of the humanitarian subgroup of the Contact Group on Ukraine are concerned by the safety issues on the contact line and have agreed to do all they can to make it possible for residents of the border areas to visit their relatives and friends, especially during the Easter holiday, Sajdik told reporters in Minsk on Wednesday.

Checkpoints in the Luhansk region, which remain closed, should be re-open in the first place, he said.

The demining effort in Donbas is being hampered by violations of the ceasefire, he also said.

Safety issues are thwarting this work, Sajdik said.