OSCE chairperson-in-office calls for ceasefire to evacuate Debaltseve

OSCE Chairperson-in-Office and Serbian Minister of Foreign Affairs Ivica Dacic has called on the Donbas warring sides to cease fire in Debaltseve for at least three days so that civilians could leave the war zone.

"In view of the continuing heavy fighting around Debaltseve and the rapidly deteriorating humanitarian situation in the area, the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office and Serbian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ivica Dacic, calls upon all actors to refrain from violence and to immediately stop all military activities and expresses his profound regret for the loss of lives," says a report posted on the website of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine (OSCE SMM).

"On humanitarian grounds, the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office calls on all actors in and around the Debaltseve area to establish a local temporary truce for a minimum of three days, taking immediate effect, facilitated and supported by SMM. This would allow for the urgent evacuation of civilian population from the conflict zone," the report said.

Dacic asked the Special Representative to the Trilateral Contact Group, Ambassador Heidi Tagliavini to pursue this proposal within the Trilateral Contact Group.

"The truce should also be used for the immediate resumption of consultations with the aim of securing a sustainable cease-fire and the full implementation of the Minsk Protocol and Memorandum, signed in September 2014," the OSCE SMM report said.