The Ukrainian delegation to the Trilateral Contact Group (TCG) on Donbas will be looking for an alternative to the capital of Belarus, Minsk, for hosting peace talks on Donbas.
This was announced by Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Reintegration of Temporarily Occupied Territories Oleksiy Reznikov on ICTV.
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In his words, Belarus is under the influence of the Russian Federation now.
"We announced bluntly that we would not participate in TCG meetings if, after the end of the quarantine, they proposed continuing those consultations in Minsk, as was the case before," he said.
"We explained that the Ukrainian delegation would not send its members to Minsk for offline meetings. We would anyway have to look for another country, another city," he said.
According to Reznikov, "certain pro-Russian and anti-Ukrainian sentiments are now dominating" in Belarus.
Violations of Donbas ceasefire: Background
- Participants in the Trilateral Contact Group (Ukraine, Russia, and the OSCE) on the peace settlement in Donbas on July 22, 2020, agreed on a full and comprehensive ceasefire along the contact line from 00:01 on Monday, July 27, 2020.
- On the very first day of the newly-agreed truce, Russia's hybrid military forces mounted three attacks on Ukrainian positions in Donbas, eastern Ukraine.
- Ukraine has reported more such violations over the latest period.
- As a result of recent attacks since March 30, 2021, Russia-controlled armed formations have killed three Ukrainian soldiers and another four have been wounded. In addition, a civilian has been injured amid an attack on the town of Krasnohorivka.
