Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin and OSCE Chairman, Federal Minister for Europe, Integration and Foreign Affairs of Austria Sebastian Kurz have discussed the strengthening of the Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) of the OSCE in Donbas.

"We talked about the importance of strengthening the mission, both in terms of its personnel and in technical terms," Klimkin said at a joint press conference with Kurz in Kyiv on Tuesday.

He also noted that after the required level of security in Donbas is reached, fair elections may be held there.

"After reaching the required level of security we need to prepare for fair elections. We need the presence of the OSCE for this, an efficient and armed OSCE component," Klimkin said.

The settlement of the crisis in Donbas requires the application of the OSCE's entire potential, including round-the-clock monitoring of the Ukrainian-Russian border section, he said.

The two ministers also discussed the possibility of deploying an armed OSCE SMM component in Donbas, Klimkin said.

Kurz said the Austrian chairmanship was committed to upgrading the OSCE SMM's technical capabilities to better control ceasefire observance.