The State Department announced its intention to continue to urge Russia to withdraw forces from the border with Ukraine
Photo: Andrew Kelly / Reuters
The State Department will continue to urge Russia to withdraw forces concentrated along the Russian-Ukrainian border. This is stated in a statement released by the press service of the US Department of State.
“We continue to call on the Russian government to fulfill its obligations under the Minsk agreements to withdraw forces and weapons from the contact line in eastern Ukraine, as well as withdraw the forces it has gathered along the borders of Ukraine and stop its aggressive and threatening rhetoric,” the State Department said.
The US Foreign Office noted that they welcomed the OSCE's statement on the return to compliance with the ceasefire in Donbass, and also declared their readiness to promote the implementation of the Minsk agreements and support the Normandy process. The State Department stressed that it is possible to resolve the conflict in the East of Ukraine only in an atmosphere of de-escalation.
On December 22, the head of the office of the President of Ukraine Andriy Yermak said that all parties of the Trilateral Contact Group on Donbass agreed to return to full compliance with the ceasefire in the region. “Our months-long efforts to return to full compliance with the ceasefire have paid off,” Ermak wrote. He called the agreement “a step towards de-escalation in the east.”
