The Ukrainian Defense Ministry said that Russian representatives in the Joint Center for Control and Coordination (JCCC) had unilaterally limited the number of staff allowed to carry out repairs on the contact line, thereby complicating efforts to restore the damaged infrastructure.

Under a proposal made by Alexander Hug, first deputy head of the Special Monitoring Mission of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, a ceasefire must be put in place and the reconstruction begin in an area covering Avdiyivka, Yasynuvata, Donetsk airport, Pesky and two districts of Donetsk from 8 a.m. on February 5, the ministry's spokesperson said.

"The armed forces of Ukraine and the Ukrainian side of the JCCC fully backed this initiative and provided written safety guarantees to ensure the repair work on infrastructure. At the same time the Russian side of the JCC, by 6 a.m. on February 5, had unilaterally limited the necessary number of workers and demining experts to do the work down to ten people, whereas at least 30 people are needed to do it properly," Kyiv said.

This "hinders substantially the restoring of damaged infrastructure in Donbas," the spokesperson said.