Ukraine: Contact Group to discuss escalation in Donbass early next week — Kiev negotiator

KIEV, March 28. /TASS/: The security subgroup of the Contact Group on eastern Ukrainian settlement will convene on Monday or Tuesday to address the escalation of tensions in eastern Ukraine, Ukrainian president and Kiev’s chief negotiator in the Group said on Saturday.

"Our security subgroup has made its mind and suggested a meeting. We wanted to meet today, but it all depends on OSCE envoys. Possibly, it [the meeting] will take place on Monday or Tuesday," he told the Ukraine-24 TV channel.

At the same time, Kravchuk admitted that the ceasefire in Donbass "is still in place, but is being violated."

He added that Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky spent Saturday negotiating with Normandy Quartet leaders.

"The consultations continued throughout today [Saturday]. The president would like to stay in contact and agree on future steps with other members of the Quartet: the German chancellor, the president of France and the president of Russia," Kravchuk said.

On Friday, Kiev reported that four Ukrainian servicemen were killed during a shelling of the town of Shumy in eastern Ukraine. At the same time, the people’s militia of the Donetsk People Republic (DPR) rejected those reports. Against this background, Kiev’s delegation to the contact group convened for an emergency meeting and requested the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to convoke an urgent session of the security subgroup.