Ukrainian Defense Minister Stepan Poltorak has said he hopes that the ceasefire in Donbas during the New Year holidays and winter holidays will be respected.

"I would very much like to believe that on New Year's Eve we, the military, will be able to fulfill our functional duties and tasks not under shelling of artillery or launch rocket systems. I would like the civilian population living along the contact line to feel the New Year. We hope very much that this truce will be respected," Poltorak said in a video address released on Thursday.

At the same time, he said that truce agreements had been often violated by the enemy. According to the minister, almost 15,000 ceasefire violations by terrorist groups were recorded this year.

Poltarak recalled that the Trilateral Contact Group agreed in Minsk on December 20 that a ceasefire in Donbas begins from midnight on December 23 and will last until the end of the winter school holidays.

He also said that the Ukrainian Armed Forces were ready for possible escalation of the situation in eastern Ukraine.

"The Armed Forces are in such a condition today when they can react to the worsening of the situation," he said.

According to him, huge work has been done in recent years, and the Ukrainian army has a reserve and an understanding of the situation not only in Donetsk and Luhansk regions, but also on the Ukrainian border.

"We are preparing and are ready to change the situation, and if, God forbid, there is an escalation, we are ready for adequate work," Poltarak said.